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HANDBOOK 


OF 


MEDIAEVAL 


GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY, 


BY 


y.. 

WILHELM PUTZ, 

U 

PRINCIPAL TUTOR AT THE GYMNASIUM OF DUREN. 


& 


4 * 


X 


s 

r 


TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY THE REV. 

' ■' u 


R. B.' PAUL, M.A. 

* ' 

vicar of st. augustine’s, Bristol, 

AND LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. 



FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, 


st. Paul’s church yard, and Waterloo place. 


1849 







GILBERT 


j ira 

t T953 


LONDON: 

AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 

st. John’s square 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION. 


I. Germany before the Migrations. 


page 


■§ 1. Geography of Germany in the First Century after 
Christ ...... 

Soil and products . 

Tribes ...... 

2. Religion, manners, and customs, in the First Century 

of the Christian sera .... 

Political constitution, war 

3. History of the Germans to the period of the migrations 
The German tribes . 

The Cimbri and Teutones 
Germany in the time of Julius Caesar 
Conquests of Drusus and Tiberius 
The two first unions of German tribes 
The empire of the Marcomanni and confederacy 
OF THE CHERUSCI . 

War between the two confederacies 
The Batavian war of liberation . 

The Marcomannic War . 

More extensive confederacies in the West and 
Fast . . • . . . 

Migrations. 

Destruction of the Gothic empire by the Huns 
General immigration of the Barbarians into the coun¬ 
tries of the West 

Dissolution of the Hunnish empire 
Dissolution of the Western Roman empire 


. The 
§ 4 . 

5. 

6 . 
7 . 


1 

ib. 

2 

3 
ib. 

4 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 

5 
ib. 

ib. 

6 
ib. 
ib. 

7 


8 

9 

11 

12 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


First Period—from the dissolution of the Western Empire 

TO THE ACCESSION OF THE CaRLOVINGIANS AND ABBASIDES. 


A. The West. 

§ 8. Empires in Italy . ... . 

I. The Italian empire established by German 
mercenaries under Odoacer . 

II. Empire of the Ostrogoths in Italy 

III. Byzantine dominion in Italy 

IV. Empire of the Langobardi 

A 3 


13 

ib. 

ib. 

14 

15 




VI 


CONTENTS. 


§ 9. 


10 . 

11 . 


12 . 

13 . 

14. 


13. The 
§ 15. 


16. 


17 . 


PAGE 


Empire of the Vandals in Africa . . .16* 

Extent of the empire . . . . ib. 

History . . . . . . ib. 

Empire of the Suevi in Spain . . .17 

Empire of the Visigoths . . . . ib. 

Extent of the empire . . . . ib. 

History . . . . . . ib. 

Empire of the Burgundians in Gaul . . .19 

Empire of the Franks under the Merovingians . ib. 

The Frankish empire under the administration of 
the majores domus . . . .21 

Religion, manners, and customs of the West, particu¬ 
larly of the Frankish empire . . .22 

1. Religion . . . . . ib. 

a. The introduction of Christianity . . ib. 

b. The monastic life . . . . ib. 

c. Relation of the Church to the State . 24 

2. Political constitution . . . . ib. 

a. Origin and development of the German States ib. 

b. The feudal system . . . .25 

c. Legislation . . . . .26 

3. Manners and customs . . . .27 

4. Scientific knowledge . . . .23 

5. Art . . . . . . ib. 


East. 

The Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) empire . 

History..... 

I. Period of the rise of the empire, from the yeai 
395 to the death of Justinian in 565 . 

II. Period of the decline of the empire, from 565 to the 
accession of the Macedonian emperor in 867 
Political constitution, arts, and sciences. 

1. The constitution .... 

2. Language and literature 

3. Art . . > 

4. Commerce and manufactures 

5. Manners ..... 

The Ai’abians— 

Geography of Arabia . 

History of the Arabians 

1. From Mohammed to the dynasty of the Om 

maijades .... 

2. The Ommaijad caliphs 
Religion, arts, and sciences. 

1. Creed of the Arabians 

2. Political constitution 

3. Arts and sciences 

4. Trade and manufactures 

The modern Persian empire— 

Boundaries ..... , 

History ...... 


28 

29 

ib. 

31 

33 

ib. 

34 

ib. 

35 


ib. 


36 

37 


39 

ib. 

40 

ib. 


41 

ib. 







EDITOR’S PREFACE. 


The Handbook of Mediaeval History and Geography 
forms the second portion of the series published by Pro¬ 
fessor Piitz. In this part of his work the Editor’s chief 
difficulty has been the spelling of proper names, many of 
which in their German forms would be unfamiliar to the 
English reader. To obviate this objection, he has in 
some instances substituted an English for a German name 
{e.g. Lewis for Ludwig); and, in others, added the more 
familiar word in brackets ( e.g. Aachen [Aix-la-Chapelle], 
Liittich [Liege], Lothar [Lothaire], &c.). In the history 
of France, the French mode of spelling has been for the 
most part adopted {e.g. Louis instead of Lewis). 

A complete set of Historical and Geographical Ques¬ 
tions has been added in this, as in the first portion of the 
work. 

R. B. Paul. 


In consequence of my long illness, and consequent 
absence from home, this second portion of the Handbook 
has been edited, as well as translated, by Mr. Paul. 


T. K. Arnold. 














































. 

U,.. <t 





































CONTENTS. VLl 

PAGE 

C. The North-east of Europe. 

§ 18. The Sclavonians . . . . .42 

19. Other nations in the East of Europe— 

1. The Avares . . . . .43 

2. The Bulgarians . . . . . ib. 

3. The Chazares . . . . .44 

Second Period—from tiie accession of the Carlovingians 

AND AbBASIDES TO THE FIRST CRUSADE. 

A. The West. 

§ 20. The Frankish empire under the Carlovingians . 44 

1. Pepin the Short . . . . ib. 

2. Charlemagne . . . . .45 

The wars of Charlemagne . . . . ib. 

a. Conquest of Lombardy . . . . ib. 

b. Wars with the Saxons . . . ib. 

3. War in Spain . . . . .46 

4. War with the Avares . . . .47 

5. War against the Danes and Wilzes . . ib. 

Restoration of the Western Roman empire . ib. 

Charlemagne’s administration. 

a. Ecclesiastical and educational establishments . 48 

b. Legislation . . . . .49 

c. The Constitution .... ib. 

Lewis the Pious . . . . .51 

Pedigree of the Frankish kings . . .52 

Successors of Lewis the Pious . . .53 

Lewis the German . . . . ib. 

Charles the Bald . . . . ib. 

Lothar . . . . . . ib. 

Lewis II. ..... 54 

Portions of the Frankish empire . . . ib. 

1. The Western empire .... ib. 

2. Germany . . . . . ib. 

3 and 4. Burgurendy cis and transjuranic . ib. 

5. Italy . . . . . . ib. 

Domestic History . . . . ib. 

21. The East Frankish empire under the two last Carlo¬ 

vingians— 

1. Arnulf . . . . . .56 

2. Lewis the Child . . . . . ib. 

22. Empire of the East Franks under Conrad I. of Fran¬ 

conia. 

23. The German empire under Kings of the house of 

Saxony— 

1. Henry I. (the Fowler) . . . .57 

2. Otho I. (the Great) . . . .58 

3. Otho II. . . . . . .60 

4. Otho III. . . . . . ib. 

5. Henry II. (the Saint) . . . . ib. 











Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


§ 24. 


25. 


26. 


27. 


28. 

29. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 

B. The 
§ 34. 

35. 

C. The 
§ 36. 


The German empire under the Franconian emperors — 

1. Conrad II. .... 

2. Henry III. . 

3. Henry IV. . . . . . 

War with the Saxons . . . . 

Contests between Gregory VII. and the princes 
of Germany . . . . . 

Rebellion of the sons of Henry IV. against their 
father ...... 

4. Henry V. ..... 

Changes in the Constitution during the Saxon and 

Franconian period— 

The Monarchy 
The Dukes . 

Italy— 

A. The kingdom of Italy 

B. Venice . 

C. Papal Italy, or States of the Church 

D. Lower Italy 

E. The Islands 

France under the last Carlovingians— 

1. Otho 

2. Charles III. 

3. Robert . 

4. Rudolph . 

5. Lewis IV. (the Stranger) 

6. Lothar . 

7. Lewis V. (Faineant) 

France under the four first Capets— 

1. Hugh Capet 

2. Robert . 

3. Henry 

4. Philip I. . 

England under the West Saxon Kings— 

Alfred the Great 

Supremacy of the Danes in England— 

Canute 
Harold 
Hardicanute 

Restoration and extinction of the Anglo-Saxon 
Edward III. (the Confessor) 

Harold II. . 

Scotland 
Ireland 

Spain .... 

East. 

The Byzantine empire under the Macedonian emperors 
The Arabians uuder the Abbasides 

North-east of Europe. 

Scandinavia ...... 

1. Norway and Iceland .... 


ynasty 


PAGE 

61 

ib. 

63 

ib. 

64 

65 

66 


67 

ib. 

68 

69 
ib. 

70 

71 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

72 
ib. 
ib. 
ib. 

73 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

74 

75 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

ib. 

76 
ib. 


78 

ib. 


80 

ib. 






CONTENTS. 

2. Sweden .... 


IX 

PAGE 

80 


3. Denmark 

• • 

ib. 

§ 37. 

Russia ..... 


81 

38. 

Poland .... 

• • 

82 

39. 

Hungary .... 

• • 

ib. 

40. 

Religion, Arts, Sciences, &c. during the Second Period— 



The Church 

• • 

83 


Arts and Sciences . 

• • 

84 


Trade and manufacturing industry 

• • 

86 

• 

Third Period—Age of the Crusades. 


41. 

The Crusades— 

The first crusade 


87 


The second crusade 


89 


The third crusade . 


ib. 


The (so-named) fourth crusade 


90 


The crusade of Fredei’ick II. 


91 


The sixth crusade . . 


92 


The seventh crusade 


ib. 


Results of the crusades. 

A. Political consequences— 

1. To the hierarchy 


ib. 


2. To the sovereigns of Europe . 


93 


3. To the nobility 

• . 

ib. 


4. To the burgher order 

• • 

94 


5. To the peasant order . 

, # 

95 


B. Consequences to Trade and Manufactures— 

1. To maritime enterprise 

ib. 


2. To the overland trade . 

# # 

ib. 


3. To manufacturing industry 

• • 

ib. 


C. To the sciences . 

m , 

96 


A. The West. 


§ 42. 

The German empire under Lothar the Saxon— 



Pedigree of the Guelphs and Hohenstaufen 

■ 97 

43. 

The German empire under the Hohenstaufen— 



1. Conrad III. .... 

. 98 


2. Frederick I. (Barbarossa) 

. ib. 


First Italian campaign. 

. 99 


Second Italian campaign 

. ib. 


Third visit to Italy 

. 100 


Fourth Italian campaign 

. ib. 


Fifth Italian campaign 

. ib. 


Sixth visit to Italy 

. 101 


3. Henry VI. .... 

ib. 


4. Philip of Swabia \ 

OthoIV. / • ‘ 

. 102 


5. Frederick II. 

. 103 


6. Conrad IV. .... 

. 104 

44. 

The interregnum in Germany . 

. 105 


a 










X 


CONTENTS. 


§ 45 . 


4*;. 

47. 


48. 

49. 


PAGE 


The kingdom of the Two Sicilies— 

a. Under the Normans . . . .105 

b . Under the Hohenstaufen . . . tb. 

c. Under the house of Anjou . . . 100 

France— 

5. Louis YI. (the Fat) * . . ib. . 

6. Louis VII. ..... ib. 

7. Philip II. . . . . .107 

8. Louis VIII. . . . . .108 

9. Louis IX. . . . . . ib. 

England— 

a. Under Norman Kings. 

Pedigree ..... 109 

1. William the Conqueror . . ib. 

2. William II. (Rufus) . . ib. 

3 Henry I. . . . . ib. 

4. Stephen . . . . ib. 

b. Under the four first Kings of the house of Anjou 

or Plantagenet— 

1. Henry II. . . . .110 

2. Richard Coeur de Lion . . . ib. 

3. John ..... ib. 

4. Henry III. . . . .111 

Spain . . . . . . .112 

Arabian . . . . . . ib. 

Christian . . . . . . ib. 

Portugal . . . . . . ib. 


B. The East. 


§ 50. The Byzantine empire— 

1. Under the Commeni and Dukas . .113 

2. Under the house of Angelus . . .114 

3. The Latin empire .... ib. 

51. The Arabians . . . . . .114 

52. The Seldschuks . . . .115 

53. The Mongols . . . . . . ib. 


C. The North-east of Europe. 


§ 54. Scandinavia— 



1. Iceland .... 


116 


2. Norway . 


ib. 


3. Sweden . 


ib. 


4. Denmark 


ib. 

55. 

Russia .... 


117 

56. 

Poland under the Piasts 


ib. 

57. 

Prussia .... 


118 

58. 

Hungary under the Arpads 


ib. 

59. 

Religion, Arts, Manufactures, Ac., during 
Period— 

the Third 



1. The Church 


119 


2. Political Constitution 


120 




















CONTENTS. 


XI 



PAGE 

3. Legislation and legal practice 


. 122 

4. Sciences .... 


. ib. 

5. Art .... 


. 123 

a. Poetry 


. 124 

b. Architecture 


. ib. 

c. Sculpture and Painting 


. ib. 

G. Commerce 


. 125 

7. Manufactures 


. 12G 


Fourth Period—from the termination of the Crusades to 

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 


§ GO. Germany and Switzerland— 

Geographical view of Germany betweeen the years 
1300 and 1500. 

1. The seven electorates . . . 12G 

2. The duchies . . . . .127 

3. The principalities .... ib. 

4. The Margravate of Baden . . . ib. 

5. The Langravates of Alsace, Hesse, and Thu¬ 

ringia . . . . . ib. 

G. The Burgravate of Niirnberg . . ib. 

7. Several Counties .... ib. 

8. The Archbishoprics .... ib. 

9. Bishoprics . . . . . ib. 

10. Free imperial cities . . . . ib. 

1. Kings of different houses— 

1. Rudolf of Habsburg .... ib. 

2. Adolphus of Nassau . . . ,128 

3. Albert I. (of Austria) . . ib. 

4. Henry VII. (of Luxemburg) . . . 129 

5. Lewis IV. (the Bavarian) . . ib. 

2. Kings of the house of Luxemburg— 

1. Chai'les IV. ..... 130 

2. Wenzel, or Wenceslaus . . . 132 

3. Wenzel and Rupert .... ib. 

4. Sigismund ..... 133 

The Council of Constance . . . . ib. 

Martyrdom of John Huss and Jerome of Prague 134 
The Hussite War . . . . ib. 

3. Kings of the house of Austria— 

1. Sigismund . . . . .135 

2. Frederick III. . . . ib. 

Gl. The States of Italy. 

A. In Upper Italy— 

1. Venice ..... 136 

2. Milan ...... 137 

3. Genoa . . . . . . ib. 

B. In Central Italy— 

1. Florence . . . . . ib. 

2. States of the Church .... ib. 







XII CONTENTS. 



I 

C. In Lower Italy— 

PAGE 


1. Naples . . . . . 

138 


2. Sicily ...... 

ib. 

§62. 

France— 

A. Under the last Capets— 



10. Philip III. ... 

ib. 

• 

11. Philip IY. (le Bel) .... 

ib. 


Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV. . 

139 


A. Under Kings of the house of Valois 

ib. 


1. Philip VI. ..... 

140 


2. John (the Good) .... 

ib. 


3. Charles V. (the Wise) 

ib. 


4. Charles VI. 

141 


5. Charles VII. . 

ib. 


6. Louis XI. ..... 

142 


7. Charles VIII. 

143 

63. 

England and Scotland. 

A. Kings of the house of Plantagenet— 



5. Edward I. 

ib. 


6. Edward II. ..... 

144 


7- Edward III. ..... 

ib. 


8. Richard II. 

B. Three Kings of the house of Lancaster— 

ib. 


1. Henry IV. ..... 

145 


2. Henry V. .... 

ib. 


Pedigree of the houses of Lancaster and York 

146 


3. Henry VI. 

147 

• 

C. Three Kings of the house of York— 



1. Edward IV. 

ib. 


2. Edward V. 

ib. 


3. Richard III. . 

148 

64. 

The Pyreneean Peninsula— 



The Christian kingdoms .... 

ib. 

B. The 

East. 


§ 65. 

The Byzantine empire undeivthe Palmologi . 

148 

66. 

The Osmans ...... 

149 

67. 

The Mongols ...... 

ib. 

C. The 

North-east of Europe— 


§ 68. 

Scandinavia ...... 

150 

69. 

Russia ...... 

ib. 

70. 

Poland ...... 

151 


1. Under the Piasts .... 

ib. 


2. Under the descendants of Jagello 

ib. 

71. 

Prussia under the Teutonic order 

152 

72. 

Hungary ...... 

ib. 

73. 

Religion, Arts, Sciences,&c. during the Fourth Period— 



1. The Church ..... 

153 


2. Political Constitution .... 

154 


3. The Sciences ..... 

155 


4. Art ...... 

156 


5. Trade, Navigation, and Manufactures . 

157 







HANDBOOK 


OF 

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. 


PART II.—THE MIDDLE AGES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

✓ 

I. Germany before the Migrations. 

§ 1. Geography of Germany in the First Century after 

Christ. 

Boundaries. The Roman provinces on the left bank 1 
of the Rhine, with some important stations on the right a 
bank, were protected partly by fortresses, partly by lines 
of palisades and a rampart (vallum Romanum) which ex¬ 
tended from Ratisbon on the Danube (across the Mayn 
and Lahn) to Neuwied on the Rhine. All the territory 
southward and westward of this frontier belonged to the 
Roman empire, and was divided into Germania Superior 
or Prima (from Basle to Mainz), and Germania Inferior 
or Secunda (from Mainz to the country of the Batavi). 
The rest of Germany (between the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, b 
and North Sea) was occupied by independent native 
tribes. 

Soil and Products. According to the Roman writers, 2 
Caesar and Tacitus, the soil of Germany in their time was 
little better than a succession of steppes, morasses, and 
wild tracts of woodland ; one of which, called the Hercy- 
nian forest, was reported to be sixty days’ journey in ex¬ 
tent. Hence the coldness of the climate, and the numerous 
animals, which now exist only in northern latitudes, such 




2 


GERMANY. 


[ 3 — 5 . § 1 . 

2) as rein-deer, elks, uruses, and bears. Their horses were 
a neither handsome nor swift; the neat cattle numerous, but 
small. Fruit trees and every description of metal, except 
iron, were unknown. The only sorts of grain cultivated 
were oats and barley. 

Tribes. 

3 a) The Western Germans . 1. The Catti (Chassians or 
b Hessians) in the Hercynian forest. 2. The Frisii on 

the north-western coast, from the mouths of the Rhine 
to the Ems. Smaller tribes : the Usipetes and Tencteri 
on the Lower Rhine, the Sigambri [or Sicambri] on the 
Sieg. 

4 b) The Northern Germans. 1. The Chauci from the 
Ems to the Elbe ; and southward of these, 2. The Che- 
rusci, between the Weser and the Elbe. 

5 c) The Suevi (or Hermiones) a general name given by 
c Tacitus to all the nations in the interior of Germany. Of 

these tribes three are especially mentioned by the historian 
as forming a confederacy, political and religious; viz. 1. 
The Senones, between the Elbe, the Oder, and the Spree, 
with the Langobardi, or Longobardi, on the left bank of 
the Elbe. 2. A confederacy of seven Suevic tribes between 
the Lower Elbe and the Baltic, who worshipped the god¬ 
dess Hertha, in a sacred grove on an island of the ocean 
b (Femern or Riigen ?). 3. The Lygii, on the Upper Oder. 

Besides these, there belonged to the Suevic stock: 1. In 
the north-east, the Gothones, between the Warthe and the 
Vistula ; and the iEstiaei (Esthonians), at the mouth of the 
Vistula, on the amber coast. 2. In the south, the Her- 
munduri on the Upper Danube, the Marcomanni in Bo¬ 
hemia, the Quadi in Moravia. The language of these 
various tribes, no less than the peculiarities of their per¬ 
sonal appearance, (the bold blue eye, golden hair, lofty 
stature, and fair complexion,) are a sufficient indication 
of their common descent from a distinct and unmixed 


race. 


6—9. § 2.] GERMANY. 3 

§ 2. Religion, Manners , and Customs in the First Century 

of the Christian sEra. 

Religion. The Supreme Being was worshipped by 6 
the Germans under the names of Wodan (= Odin) and a 
Thor (the god of thunder). Sacrifices were offered to these 
deities in groves and forests, and auguries drawn from the 
neighing and snorting of the white horses which were kept 
in honour of them. They believed in a future state of 
martial existence in Walhalla [Valhalla]. When a warrior 
died, his arms, and in the case of chieftains, his horse, were 
burnt at the grave. 

Political constitution. There was a distinction be- 7 
tween freemen and serfs. Every member of the former b 
class enjoyed the privilege of being present in arms and 
taking part in the great national councils, which assembled 
regularly on the new and full moons, under the presidence 
of the elders or priests, for the purpose of deciding all im¬ 
portant state questions, electing officers, and trying crimi¬ 
nals. The assent of the assembly was expressed by a 
clattering of spears, and their disapprobation by a murmur. 

In these assemblies young men were solemnly declared 
capable of bearing arms. Their princes were chosen out 
of the most distinguished families, and their dukes or 
leaders from among the bravest warriors. The power of 
both these officers was limited. 

W ar. Their arms consisted of a short spear, called frame 8 
iframea ], and a shield of painted wood. Their order of c 
battle was in the form of a wedge, surrounded on three sides 
with a barricade of carriages, which sheltered the wdves and 
children of the combatants. Before and during the engage¬ 
ment a battle-hymn was chanted by the bards. If the first 
attack w f as unsuccessful, they retired to their barricades, 
and renewed the fight, which w r as often won through the 
assistance afforded them by their wives and children. 

Manners and customs. The ancient Germans had 9 
no towns, nor even connected villages ; but lived in de- d 
tached wooden huts, thatched with straw, which were gene¬ 
rally erected near the centre of their common field. A 
number of these huts formed a mark, several marks a zent, 
and several zents a gau. Their ordinary dress in summer 
was a tunic, of w'ool for the men, and linen for the women ; 

b 2 


4 


GERMANY. 


[ 10 . § 3 . 

(9) and in winter, a coat of skins. Next to war, the chief 
a business of their lives w r as the chase ; the cultivation of the 
soil, as well as all other manual labour, being left to their 
wives, children, and serfs. The Germans were fond of 
games of hazard, and passed a considerable portion of their 
time in banquets and drinking matches ; during which the 
Sword or war-dance was performed for the amusement of 
the company, by naked youths, and the most important 
affairs were frequently discussed. Chastity, a religious 
observance of their conjugal obligations, and unbounded 
hospitality, were the distinguishing virtues of this rude 
e people. Atonement might be made for all crimes, including 
even murder itself, by the payment of a fine, consisting of 
a certain number of heads of cattle. 

§ 3. History of the Germans to the Period of the Migrations. 

A. The Ge rman tribes. 

10 It seems probable that the coasts of the Baltic were 
known from the remotest antiquity to Phoenician and Greek 
traders in amber ; but the first distinct accounts which we 
have of the Germans commence with the invasion of the 
Roman territory by separate tribes. Half German clans, 
for instance, from the Alps, joined the Gauls in their ex¬ 
pedition against Rome ; and the Bastarnae formed an alliance 
c with Perseus. But the most fearful invasion was that of the 
Cimbri and Teutones (b.c. 113), who seem to have advanced 
upon Noricum from two distinct points. For their war 
with the Romans, see Part i. 3, § 79. The next migration 
was that of the Marcomanni, under one of their princes 
named Ariovistus, who marched to the assistance of the 
Sequani against their enemies, the iEdui (b.c. 72) ; and 
after defeating them, continued to pour fresh troops into 
Gaul, until he was finally overthrown by Caesar at Yesontio 
(Besan^n) (58), and compelled to recross the Rhine. 
d After an obstinate struggle, the Belgic Germans (Nervii, 
Aduatici, and Eburones) were subdued by Caesar, who 
crossed the Rhine twice without any result, extinguished 
an insurrection of the Belgae under Ambiorix, prince of 
the Eburones, took Germans into his pay, and with their 
assistance quelled an insurrection of the Gauls under 
Vercingetorix, completed the subjugation of Gaul, and 


GERMANY. 


11 . § 3.] 


5 


gained the decisive victory of Pharsalus. Augustus (10) 
formed a body-guard of Germans. His step-sons, Drusus a 
and Tiberius, conquered all the nations between the Alps 
and the Danube. In order to subdue, also, the Low- 
German tribes, who were perpetually invading Roman 
Gaul, Drusus took whole German clans into his pay, built 
a fleet on the Rhine, which he united with the Yssel by 
means of the fossa Drusi, undertook four expeditions into 
Germany (b.c. 12 — 9), erected fortresses for the defence 
of the Roman territory (50 ? on the Rhine), and advanced 
as far as the Elbe. 

B. The two first unions of German tribes.— b 
The empire of the Marcomanni and confederacy 
of the Cherusci. 

1. War of these two confederacies against Rome. 

After the death of his brother, Tiberius continued the 11 
war in Germany, and threatened Mar bod, the founder of 
the Marcomannic empire, which comprised all the Sue vie 
tribes between the Elbe and Danube (the Marcomanni, 
Hermunduri, Langobardi, and Senones) ; but in conse¬ 
quence of the simultaneous revolt of Pannonia and Dalma¬ 
tia, he was compelled to grant peace on favorable terms. 
Although the Low-German tribes had been rather gained c 
over by promises and alliances than actually overcome, the 
Romans nevertheless considered themselves masters of all 
the country between the Rhine and the Elbe. The unjust 
severity of their governor, L. Quinctilius Varus, in com¬ 
pelling the Germans to adopt the Roman language, laws, 
and system of taxation, occasioned a confederation of 
the Low-German tribes (Cherusci, Bructeri, and Marsi), 
under the command of Herman (son of a prince of the 
Cherusci named Siegmar), who had been educated at Rome. 

In spite of the warning given him by the traitor Segestus d 
(afterwards Herman’s father-in-law), Varus, crediting the 
intelligence of a revolt on the Ems, suffered himself to be 
enticed into the Teutoburgian forest, where he was 
attacked by Herman [Arminius], and after losing three 
Roman legions, threw himself on his own sword (a.d. 9). 

On receiving intelligence of this disaster, Augustus dis¬ 
banded his German body-guard, and compelled all the 
German residents to quit Rome. In the years 14—16, 
three campaigns in Germany, (principally against the Che- 

b 3 


6 


GERMANY. 


[ 12 — 14 . § 3 . 

(ll)rusci, Bructeri, Marsi, and Catti,) were undertaken by 
a Germanicus, the son of Drusus, who buried the bones of 
those who had fallen in the Teutoburgian forest, and de¬ 
feated Herman at Idistaviss [Idistavisus Campus], on the 
Weser. On the homeward voyage a part of his fleet was 
wrecked in a gale of wind, and Germanicus himself was 
recalled by Tiberius, before he had succeeded in re-esta¬ 
blishing the Roman supremacy in Germany. 

2. War between the two confederacies. 

12 The bravest of the Suevic tribes, the Langobardi and 
b Senones, renounced their allegiance to Marbod, and joined 

the Cheruscan league; whilst, on the other hand, Hinkmar, 
the uncle of Herman, who envied his nephew’s reputation, 
went over to the side of Marbod. The result of these 
secessions was a double intestine war. 1. Between the 
chiefs of the Cherusci. 2. Between the Cheruscan con¬ 
federacy and the Marcomannic empire (a.d. 19). After 
sustaining a defeat, Marbod was expelled from his king¬ 
dom by a Gothonian named Catwald; and Herman, who was 
suspected of aiming at absolute power, was assassinated 
by his own relations (a.d. 22 ?). 

3. The Batavian war of liberation (09). 

13 After the dissolution of these two confederacies, the 
c domestic feuds of the Germans were fostered by the Ro¬ 
mans so effectually, as to prevent, for a century and half, the 
formation of any fresh leagues. An attempt, it is true, was 
made by the Batavi (exasperated by Cl. Civilis) to unite 
several German tribes (Bructeri, Tencteri, Catti, Usipetes, 
Mattiaci, and, at a later period, the Trieri, Lingones, and 
Ubii) for a war of liberation ;'but after sustaining several 
defeats, most of the clans were induced, either by bribery 
or by the fair promises of the Romans, to withdraw from the 
confederacy. 

4. The Marcomannic war, 166—180. 

14 Whilst the Romans were occupied with a war against 
d the Parthians, their provinces on the southern Danube 

were invaded by several clans, among whom we hear, for 
the first time, of the Vandals and Alans. The emperor 
Marcus Aurelius, after undertaking nine campaigns against 
these barbarians, died at Vienna, in the midst of his pre¬ 
parations for the tenth. His son Commodus, who wished 
to remain at Rome, granted peace to the Marcomanni, 


GERMANY. 


15 , 16 . § 3 .] 


i 


Quadi, &c., on condition of their furnishing a yearly con- (14) 
tingent. a 

C. More extensive confederacies in the W. 
and E. 

a. In Western Germany. 1. The Alemanni, a general 15 
name for the union (commenced by the Hermunduri) of 
the hitherto distinct Suevic tribes in the south-west, from 
the Mayn to the Alps. 2. The Franks, an appellation b 
indicating a similar union of Low-German clans, most of 
which had belonged to the Cheruscan league, but exclud¬ 
ing the Cheruscans themselves. 3. The Saxons, whose 
name and confederation extended southwards, from the 
Cumbrian Peninsula, their original settlement, to the fron¬ 
tiers of the Cheruscan territory. 

b. In Eastern Germany were also three confederacies : 
the Vandal, Gothic, and Alanic. 

These confederacies, the origin of which might be traced 16 
partly to the combination of different tribes against the c 
Romans, and partly to the extension of the feudal system, 
availed themselves of the confusion occasioned throughout 
the Roman empire, by the frequent change of rulers, to raise 
the standard of revolt on their respective frontiers. (About 
250.) Whilst the Rhenish border was distracted by the 
invasions of the Alemanni and Franks, the Goths appeared 
in Illyria and Thrace, and, in conjunction with the Heruli, 
carried on piratical warfare against the coasts and islands 
of the Archipelago, until the restoration of the ancient 
boundaries of the Roman empire by Aurelian, and the re¬ 
establishment by Probus, after many struggles, of the fron¬ 
tier wall between the Rhine and Danube. A great number 
of Germans were, at the same time, transplanted into the d 
R oman provinces. (Return to Germany of the Franks, 
who had been removed to the shores of the Pontus Euxi- 
nus.) After the death of Probus the frontier wall disap¬ 
peared ; the Alemanni became masters of the Upper 
Rhine, and extended their conquests into Vindelicia and 
Rhoetia, whilst the Franks took possession of the Batavian 
islands, and forced their way through Belgium into Gaul. 
These encroachments were met, on the part of the Romans, 
by the establishment of additional settlements of German 
auxiliaries in their frontier provinces. At the head of 
these mercenaries Caesar Julianus defeated, near Strasburg, 

b 4 


8 


GERMANY. 


[ 17 — 19 . § 4 . 

(16) a body of Alemanni who had invaded Gaul, and five times 
a pursued the Germans across the frontier into their own 
territory. Notwithstanding this check, the Alemanni soon 
afterwards recrossed the Rhine and Danube, and were again 
expelled from Gaul by Valentinian I. ; a portion of those 
who had crossed the Danube being permitted to hold fiefs 
on the banks of the Po. 

II. The Migrations. 

§ 4. Destruction of the Gothic Empire by the Huns. 

17 The two branches of the Gothic empire had extended in 
b the fourth century over the whole of north-eastern Europe ; 

the Western Gothic [or that of the Visigoths ] occupying 
all the territory between the Lower Danube and the Dniester 
(including what is now Moldavia, Wallachia, and Podolia), 
and the Eastern Gothic [that of the Ostrogoths ] extend¬ 
ing from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The former of these 
empires was governed by an aged monarch named Her- 
manric, the latter by Athanaric. 

18 The Goths were the first German tribe who embraced 
c Christianity, according to the teaching of the heresiarch 

Arius. At the council of Nicasa, in 325, there appeared a 
Gothic bishop, Theophilus, whose successor, Ulphilas, trans¬ 
lated the four Gospels into the Gothic dialect. 

19 The Huns, who originally inhabited that part of eastern 
Asia which lies northwards of China, had rendered them¬ 
selves formidable to the Chinese empire long before their 
appearance in Europe; and in the third century before 
Christ, the great wall of China had been erected as a bar- 

d rier against them. At a later period the Hunnish empire 
was divided into two kingdoms, the northern of which was 
overthrown by a Tartaric clan, the Sienpi. The most 
warlike of their tribes, however, moved westwards, and, 
between the Volga and the Don, encountered the Alani 
(about 375), a portion of whom retreated before them, 
whilst the remainder surrendered, and were incorporated 
into their army. Reinforced by these new auxiliaries, the 
Huns assailed both the kingdoms of the Goths, who be¬ 
sought the emperor Valens to grant them lands on the right 


GERMANY. 


9 


20—22. § 5.] 

bank of the Danube. Only a portion of the West Goths, (19) 
[Visigoths] the Thervingians, were permitted to settle in a 
Mcesia. These were soon goaded into revolt by the severity 
of the Roman governors ; and calling in the Huns and Alani 
as auxiliaries, they crossed the Haemus into Thrace, attacked 
Valens (378) near Adrianople, and compelled him to take 
refuge in a hut, where he was accidentally burnt to death. 

His successor, Theodosius, beat back the Goths, who were 
advancing on Constantinople, and concluded a peace, by the 
terms of which, the West Goths were permitted to settle in 
Moesia and Dacia, and their allies, the Eastern Goths [Os¬ 
trogoths], in Asia Minor, on condition of their furnishing a 
contingent of mercenary troops, under their own com¬ 
manders. The Eastern emperor, Arcadius, having ne- b 
glected to pay the stipulated wages to these auxiliaries, the 
West Goths chose Alaric to be their king, and invaded 
Greece, which they were compelled to evacuate on the 
approach of Stilico, who advanced with a fleet to the relief 
of Peloponnesus. Alaric was invested with the prefecture 
of the East-Roman province of Illyricum. 

§ 5. General Immigration of the Barbarians into the Coun¬ 
tries of the West, 

From Illyria, Alaric, at the head of the Visigoths, 20 
entered Italy in the year 403, but was twice defeated by c 
Stilico, at Pollentia and Verona. 

Soon after this invasion (406), several German clans ap- 21 
peared in Italy under the command of their prince, Rada- 
gais. At the siege of Florence most of them either died 
of starvation or were taken prisoners and sold as slaves. 

A few cut their way through the enemy’s army, and escaped 
into Gaul. 

It was, however, towards the west, that the grand move- 22 
ment took place from the interior of Germany. The Bur- o 
gundians established themselves in eastern Gaul, on the 
Upper Rhine (407), whilst the Alani and Suevi entered 
Spain by the passes of the Pyrenees, and spread themselves 
over the Peninsula, the Vandals and Suevi occupying 
the western portion (Galicia), the Alani settling in Lusi¬ 
tania and Carthagena, and a division of the Vandals taking 
possession of the district called after them, Andalusia. 


10 


GERMANY. 


[ 23 — 25 . § 5 . 

(22) The Tarraconian province seems to have been the only por- 
a tion of the Peninsula which remained in the hands of the 
Romans. 

23 After the assassination of Stilico, Alaric, disgusted at the 
non-payment of the subsidies granted by Honorius, invested 
Rome, and was only induced to spare the city by the pro¬ 
mise of an enormous ransom. His overtures of peace 
having been rejected by the court of Ravenna, Alaric ap¬ 
peared a second time before Rome, in the year 400 ; but 
again raised the siege, and marched to Ravenna ; then re¬ 
turned to Rome for the third time in 410, took the city by 
treachery (Aug. 24), and punished the inhabitants by allow- 

b ing six (?) days’ pillage to his soldiers. He died at Con- 
sentia, on the march into Lower Italy, and was buried in the 
channel of the river Busentinus. His successor, Athaulf, 
concluded a peace with Honorius, and led the Visigoths 
into Gaul in 412, and into Spain in 414. His successor, 
Wallia, overthrew the Suevi, Vandals, and Alani, who had 
entered the country a short time before; then recrossed 
the Pyrenees, and took possession of the districts ceded 
to him by Honorius in Aquitania (from Toulouse along 
the Garonne to the sea, called also Septimania), and 
chose Toulouse for the capital of his empire, which now 
extended a considerable distance on each side of the 
Pyrenees. 

24 The Vandals and Alani, in the year 429, accepted an 
c invitation from the Roman lieutenant, Bonifacius (who had 

fallen into disgrace at the court of his empress), and invaded 
the northern coast of Africa, where their king, Gei- 
seric [ Genseric], after the capture of Hippo and Carthage, 
founded the Vandalic empire, with Carthage for its 
capital. This empire comprehended also the islands of the 
western Mediterranean. 

25 Ever since the abandonment of Britain by the Roman 
d legions, the island had been ravaged by hordes of Piets and 

Scots. After applying in vain for protection to the Romans, 
the inhabitants invited the Saxons, Angles, and Jut¬ 
landers, who landed in the year 449, under the command 
of Hengist and Horsa, expelled the Piets, and settled in 
the island, where they gradually formed seven Anglo-Saxon 
kingdoms ; viz. Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northum¬ 
berland, East-Anglia, and Mercia. The Britons retired into 


GERMANY. 


11 


26 . § 6 .] 

Wales and Cornwall, or emigrated to the opposite coast of (25 
Armorica (Bretagne). 


§ 6. Dissolution of the Hunnish Empire. 

The Huns, who, after the subjugation of the Eastern Goths 26 
[Ostrogoths^, had been wandering for fifty years about a 
S outhern Russia, Poland, and Hungary, again became for¬ 
midable under the command of their king, Attila, or Etzel 
(the scourge of God), who reigned in conjunction with his 
brother Bleda, from 434 to 444, and alone from 444 to 453. 
The Roman emperors of the east and west having united for 
the purpose of rescuing Africa from the Vandals, Geiseric 
persuaded Attila to invade the eastern empire. After thrice b 
defeating Theodosius II., Alaric appeared before Constan¬ 
tinople ; but being unacquainted with the art of attacking 
fortified places, he contented himself with exacting a yearly 
tribute, in addition to the payment already guaranteed by 
Arcadius, and compelling the omperor to cede a district of 
Thrace. Then he entered Gaul at the head of 700,000 men, 
but was defeated on the Catalaunian plain, at Chalons 
sur Marne (451), by the united forces of the West Goths 
under their king Theodoric, and the Romans under their 
general Aetius. In this engagement, the most sanguinary, c 
perhaps, that ever occurred in Europe (106,000 slain), Ger¬ 
mans were opposed to each other, some of them serving in the 
Roman army, and others in that of the Huns. King Theo¬ 
doric was slain. The following year (452) Attila demanded 
in marriage Honoria, sister of Valentinian III., requiring 
half the empire as her dowry. This proposal being rejected, 
he suddenly entered Italy, sacked Aquileia, and plundered 
all the cities of Lombardy, the inhabitants of which fled in 
great numbers to the islands in the lagunes of the Adriatic, 
where they founded the city of Venice. The Romans, d 
headed by their pope, Leo I., petitioned for peace, which 
was granted by Attila. After his death, in the following 
year (453), his empire, which had extended from the Rhine 
to the eastern bank of the Volga, rapidly crumbled away ; 
the nations which had hitherto been subject to the Huns 
driving them back to the shores of the Black Sea, and 
forming kingdoms of their own, the Gepidae in Dacia, the 
East Goths in Pannonia, and, at a later period, in Thrace. 

b 6 


12 


GERMANY. 


[ 27 . § 7 . 


§ 7. Dissolution of the Western Roman Empire. 

27 The progress of the Germanic tribes was favoured by the 
A intestine confusion of the Western Roman empire, the capital 
of which was plundered for fourteen days by the Vandals, in 
455, and its sceptre wielded by a Suevian named Ricimer, in 
the name of a succession of puppets, who bore the title of 
emperor. The West Goths [Visigoths] extended their em¬ 
pire in Gaul to the Loire, the Rhone, and the Ocean, and 
put an end to the Roman dominion in Spain, where there 
remained only the little kingdom of the Suevi, in Galicia 
and Lusitania. The Burgundians spread still more widely 
in south-eastern, and the Franks in central Gaul. Two 
attempts of the Romans to reconquer Africa were rendered 
i* abortive by Geiseric, who annihilated their fleet. Finally, 
Odoacer, who had entered the Roman service as a merce¬ 
nary, at the head of a band composed of Herulians, Ru- 
gians, &c., and had been refused a third of the lands in 
Italy, put an end to the empire of the West by deposing 
the emperor Romulus Augustulus, and was proclaimed 
king of Italy by his German mercenaries, in 476. The 
Roman possessions in Gaul were retained for a time by 
Syagrius, who was finally defeated by Chlodwig [Clovis], 
at Soissons, and compelled to evacuate the province in 
the year 486. 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


First Period. 

From the Dissolution of the Western Empire to the Accession of the 
Carlovingians and Abbasides, 476—752 (750). 

A. The West. 

§ 8. Empires in Italy. 

I. The Italian empire established by German 28 
mercenaries under Odoacer (476—490). a 

Theodoric, king of the Eastern Goths [Ostrogoths], who 
had embraced the tenets of Arianism during his residence as 
a hostage at Constantinople, and subsequently taken service 
in the armies of the eastern empire, proposed to the emperor 
Zeno a plan for reconquering Italy with his Goths. This 
proposal being accepted, Theodoric fought his way through 
the territories of the Gepidae, and defeated Odoacer in 
three engagements (on the Isonzo, the Adige, and the Adda). 
Odoacer, after sustaining a siege for three years in the 
strongly-fortified city of Ravenna, surrendered, and was 
put to death with his family and followers, in 493. 

II . Empire of the Ostrogoths in Italy, 490— b 
554. 

Theodoric the Great (490—526) was recognized as king 29 
of Italy by Anastasius, the successor of Zeno. This sove¬ 
reign not only strengthened his newly-established throne by 
wise laws and institutions, but extended his empire beyond 
the boundaries of Italy, over the countries between the 
Alps and the Danube, as well as Ulyricum, and finally over 
Provence. Imperial residence—Ravenna, and sometimes 
Verona or Bern (hence his German name of Dietrich of 
Bern). Prosperity of Italy, in consequence of his toleration c 
of the Catholics; encouragement of agriculture and com- 


14 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 30 . § 8 . 

(29) merce ; embellishment of the cities, drainage, and cultiva- 
a tion of the Pontine marshes, &c. He succeeded, also, in 
maintaining peace among the German princes, most of whom 
were his relations. His brother-in-law, Cldodwig (Clovis), 
king of the Franks, the only sovereign who offered resist¬ 
ance, was compelled to lay down bis arms. The Visi- 
gothic throne was secured to Amalaric, a minor, the grand¬ 
son of Theodoric, who undertook the office of guardian. 
Theodoric died in 526, of remorse, it is said, on account of 
the (perhaps) unjust execution of the learned senator Boe¬ 
thius (who was suspected of having negotiated with the 
b eastern emperor, Justinian, for the liberation of Italy from 
the Goths), and his father-in-law, Symmachus. Theodoric 
was succeeded by his daughter, Amalasuntha, who governed 
in the name of her son, Athalaric, a minor, and, after his 
untimely death, shared the throne with her cousin, The- 
odotus, by whom she was murdered. Under pretence of 
avenging her death, Justinian revived those claims to the 
sovereignty of Italy which had never been entirely aban¬ 
doned by the eastern court. Hence arose the eighteen 
years’ war. The Byzantine general, B el i sari us, soon 
made himself master of Sicily and Italy ; but these advan¬ 
tages were lost, in consequence of his being twice recalled, 
c the Goths, under their leader Totila, reconquering the terri¬ 
tory which had been wrested from them. Germans (Heru- 
lians and Langobardi) now fought as mercenaries against 
Germans, under Narses, who was victorious at Taginae, in 
Etruria, where Totilas was slain. In this war Rome was 
taken for the fifth time ; and the heroic king, Tejas, found, 
like his brave predecessor, Totila, a soldier’s grave on the 
field of battle. A portion of the Goths capitulated, on con¬ 
dition of being permitted to depart in peace; whilst the 
remainder, who had invited two German princes to enter 
Italy at the head of the Franks and Alemanni, were over¬ 
thrown, together with their allies, by Narses in 554, and 
d compelled to submit to the conqueror. Italy became a 
province of the eastern empire, and was governed by 
exarchs resident at Ravenna, of whom Narses was the first. 

III. Byzantine dominion in Italy. 

In the year 568 the Langobardi entered Italy, and, after 
30 a succession of battles, compelled the Romans to relinquish 
their sovereignty over the whole of Italy, (which they had 


31 . § 8 .] 


EMPIRES IN ITALY. 


15 


exercised for fourteen years,) and confine themselves to the (30) 
territories strictly comprehended within their exarchate,— a 
Rome, Naples, and southern Italy, to which was added the 
name of Calabria, although they had lost that province. 

IV. Empire of the Langobardi, 568—774. 

On their return from Italy, the Langobardi, who had 31 
assisted Narses against the Ostrogoths, overthrew (under 
the command of their king Alboin, and with the aid of the 
Avari,) the empire of the Gepidae, whose name, from this 
time, merges in those of the neighbouring tribes. Leaving 
Pannonia to the Avari, the Langobardi returned to Italy, 
by the invitation, as they pretended, of the disgraced gene¬ 
ral, Narses, and with the aid of 20,000 Saxons, and some 
other hordes, wrested from the Byzantines the whole of 
Upper Italy, which thenceforward was named from them, 
Lombardy. Pavia, after a siege of three years, surrendered b 
to the conquerors, and was made the capital of their king¬ 
dom. After the assassination of Alboin (at the instigation 
of his wife Rosamond), the empire was extended south¬ 
wards by his successor, Kleph, so as to comprehend almost 
the whole of Italy, with the exception of a few strips of 
land on the coast. The southern division formed the duchy 
of Benevento. Kleph having been also assassinated, an 
interregnum of ten years succeeded, during which the 
country was governed by thirty-six dukes, among whom, 
the most powerful were those of Friuli and Benevento. At c 
the end of this period it was found necessary to restore the 
office of king, and Anthari, the son of Kleph, was raised 
to the throne. The wife of this sovereign, a Bavarian Ca¬ 
tholic named Theodolinda, commenced the conversion of 
the Arian Lombards to the orthodox faith. Under suc¬ 
ceeding kings, the eastern and western coasts of northern 
Italy fell into the hands of the Langobardi, who confined 
the exarchate within the limits of Cajabria and the district 
around Naples, and even laid claim to the sovereignty of 
Rome and its territory. In his terrour at this demonstration, d 
Pope Stephen III. applied for aid to Pepin the Short [Pepin 
le BrefJ, king of the Franks, whom he had himself anointed. 
After two campaigns in Italy, Pepin compelled the Lango¬ 
bardi to cede to the Pope that portion of the coast of the 
Adriatic which had most recently fallen into their hands, 
and thus laid the foundation of his temporal power. The 


16 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 32 , 33 . § 9 . 

(31) interference of the Franks in disputes between the Pope and 
a the Lombards, occasioned the incorporation of the Lango- 
bardic empire into that of the Franks, in the year 774. 

§ 9. Empire of the Vandals in Africa , 429—534. 

32 Extent of the empire. a. In Africa : the whole 
northern line of coast, from the Atlantic Ocean to Cyre- 
naica, comprehending the ancient Roman provinces of 
Mauritania, Numidia, Africa Propria, and the district of the 
Syrtes. h. Out of Africa : the islands of Sardinia and 
Corsica, the Balearic and Pityusian islands, and Sicily (at 
first the whole island, but subsequently [493] only the 
north-western part). 

33 History. For the establishment of the empire by Gei- 
b seric, see § 5. The Roman emperor, Valentinian III., 

having fallen by the hand of Maximus, his widow', Eudoxia, 
who had been compelled to marry the assassin, implores 
the assistance of Geiseric, who lands on the coast of Italy, 
and plunders Rome for fourteen days, in the year 455. 
Maximus is slain ; Eudoxia, with her treasures and a crowd 
of prisoners, conveyed to Carthage; and all the Italian 
islands ceded to the conqueror. In order to clear the 
Mediterranean of Vandal pirates, a fleet of 1113 sail is 
equipped, by the united exertions of the two emperors, 
c and despatched to Carthage. This fleet is attacked in the 
night by Geiseric, and the ships partly destroyed and partly 
dispersed (468). The decline of the Vandal empire, which 
commenced with the death of its founder, w 7 as accelerated 
by the frequent attacks of the Barbary tribes, and the per¬ 
secution carried on against the Catholics, of which Geiseric, 
himself an Arian, had set the example. Availing himself 
of this position of affairs, Justinian, the Byzantine emperor, 
despatched a fleet to the coast of Africa, under the com¬ 
mand of his general, ]5elisarius, who found the throne occu¬ 
pied by Gelimer, the last of the Vandal kings, and suc- 
d cessor of the deposed sovereign, Hilderic. After an en¬ 
gagement, in which the Vandals were defeated, Carthage 
surrendered, without offering any resistance; and soon 
afterwards the whole Vandal army was routed, and their 
country entirely subdued (534). Gelimer, after gracing 
the triumphal entry of Belisarius into Constantinople, re- 


34—36. § 10, 11.] THE SUEVI-THE WESTERN GOTHS. 17 

ceived an allotment of land in Asia Minor; the bravest of(33) 
the Vandals were enrolled in the Roman cavalry, and the a 
remainder absorbed into the mass of African tributaries. 

§ 10. Empire of the Suevi in Spain , 409—585. 

The whole of Boetica, together with the Carthaginian pro- 34 
vince, had been occupied since the departure of the Van¬ 
dals by the Suevi, who had settled in Galicia on their first 
arrival in Spain. Their first Christian (Catholic) sove¬ 
reign, Rechiar, was attacked in consequence of his frequent 
inroads into the Roman province Tarraconensis, by The- 
odoric II., king of the Visigoths, defeated at Paramo, on 
the river Obrego, and executed. The empire of the Suevi b 
seemed now at an end; but the remnant of the nation 
having assembled in a remote corner of Galicia, a new 
king was chosen, and their former piratical practices re¬ 
sumed. This independent Suevic kingdom, being distracted 
by political struggles, was finally incorporated into the 
Visigothic empire, in the year 585. 

§ 11. Empire of the Visigoths, 419—712. 

Extent of the empire, a. In Gaul. At first (419), 35 
Aquitania Secunda ; subsequently (439), the whole country c 
bordering on the Mediterranean, from the Rhone to the 
Pyrenees, at a later period styled exclusively Septimania; 
from the time of Euric (475), the country between the 
Rhone, the Loire, and the Ocean. After the battle of Vougle 
(507), only the extreme southern part of their Gallic em¬ 
pire remained in the hands of the Visigoths ; and even 
of this a portion was wrested from them by the Franks, in 
531. h. In Spain. At first only the country between the d 
Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, and the Ebro ; from the time 
of Euric, the whole of Spain, with the exception of the 
Suevic kingdom and the territory of the Vasci in the north ; 
from the time of Leuwigild, the whole of Spain, with the 
exception, at first, of some maritime cities in the south, and 
a part of the northern district; at a later period, Ceuta, in 
Africa, with its territory. 

History. Wallia, the founder of the Visigothic 36 
empire (see § 5), was succeeded by Theodoric I., who 


18 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 37 , 38 . § 11 . 

(36) defeated a Roman army, extended his empire as far as the 
a Rhone, and fell in the battle of the Catalaunian fields. 
Theodoric II. subdued the greater part of the Suevic 
empire. His successor, Euric, extended his empire in 
Gaul to the Rhone, the Loire, and the Ocean; expelled the 
Romans from Spain, and compiled a catalogue of the legal 
usages of the Goths. His violent persecution of the Catho¬ 
lics compelled them to form an alliance with the half-con¬ 
verted Frankish king, Chlodwig [Clovis], who, under pre¬ 
tence of rooting out the Arian heresy, attacked Alaric II., 
son and successor of Euric, slew him with his own hand in 
the battle of Vougle, near Poitiers (507), and stripped 
the Visigoths of all their possessions in Gaul, except a 
b portion of Septimania. During the minority of his son and 
successor, Amalric, the Visigothic empire was united, for 
fourteen years, to his own dominions, by Theodoric, king 
of the Ostrogoths. After the death of Amalric, who was 
slain during a war occasioned by his ill-treatment of his 
wife, Clotilda, a daughter of Chlodwig, the imperial resi¬ 
dence was transferred to Toledo,, in 531. 

37 The Visigothic empire was still further circumscribed 
by the Byzantines, who invaded the country on the invita¬ 
tion of Athanagild (an insurgent, and subsequently king), 

c and conquered the whole southern line of coast. For this 
loss they were in some measure indemnified by the sub¬ 
jugation of the rebellious Cantabrians and Vasci, and the 
conquest of the Suevic empire, by Leuwigild, who also 
compelled the Byzantines to restore several of the cities 
which they had taken. 

38 After the establishment of a natural boundary-line, by 
the expulsion of the Greeks from Spain (624), the attention 
of the Visigothic kings was directed rather to the consolida¬ 
tion of their own power, than the extension of their terri- 

d tories. The only foreign conquest during this period was 
a portion of Mauritania. Notwithstanding the amalga¬ 
mation of the Visigoths and Romans, in consequence of 
intermarriages, the adoption of the Catholic religion by the 
former, and the establishment of a common code of laws, 
the succession to the throne occasioned perpetual disputes, 
for the settlement of which the Arabians were at last in¬ 
vited over from Africa. On receiving this invitation, Musa 
immediately despatched an army into Spain, under the 


19 


39, 40. § 12, 13.] THE BURGUNDIANS. 

command of his lieutenant, Tarek, who overthrew Roderic, (38) 
the last of the Visigothic kings, at Xeres de la Fron-A 
tera, after a struggle which lasted nine days (711). Musa 
soon afterwards followed his lieutenant into Spain, and the 
greater part of the Peninsula was already in their hands, 
when the two generals were suddenly recalled by a com¬ 
mand of their caliph. After their departure, the Pyrenaean 
Peninsula was divided into—1. Arabian Spain, governed 
by lieutenants of the caliphs of Bagdad, until the establish¬ 
ment (756) of an independent kingdom at Cordova, by 
Abderrahman, the last Ommaijade. 2. The Christian king¬ 
dom of Asturia, where a remnant of the beaten Visigoths 
maintained themselves against the Arabians. 

§ 12. Empire of the Burgundians in Gaul , 407—533. 

The Burgundians (probably the people named by Tacitus, 39 
Burii) first appeared, in the first century, in the neighbour- b 
hood of the Vistula. They seem to have been a branch of 
the great Suevic stock. The loss of a battle against the 
Gepidae (about 250) having compelled them to retire west¬ 
ward, they settled on the Upper Rhine, in the neighbour¬ 
hood of the Alemanni; and, at a later period, received 
allotments of land from the Romans in Germania Superior 
(Alsace). Thence they spread southwards, over parts of 
Helvetia, Savoy, Dauphine, Lyonnois, and Franche-Comte. 

At the head of the nation was a high-priest, who held c 
his office for life (Sinist). Their kings (Hendinos), who 
resided sometimes at Geneva and sometimes at Lyons, 
were set aside for failure in war, or on account of per¬ 
sonal deformity. Disputed successions occasioned the 
introduction of Frankish kings (of Paris, Soissons, and 
Metz), who conquered the kingdom and divided it 
among themselves in the year 533 (?). The Burgun- d 
dians were compelled to pay tribute and render military 
service to the conqueror, but retained their own laws and 
customs. 

§ 13. Empire of the Franks under the Merovingians. 

Since the middle of the first century, bands of Frankish 40 
warriors had been accustomed to cross the Rhine ; at first 


20 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 40 . § 13 . 

(40) for the mere purpose of plunder, and subsequently in the 
a hope of obtaining settlements ; which they acquired partly 
by force of arms and partly as rewards for their services in 
the Roman army. These Frankish settlers in Gaul are 
divided into two principal branches: the Salii, between 
the Scheld and Meuse; and Ripuarii, probably between 
the Meuse, Moselle, and Rhine. Their clans lived indepen¬ 
dently of one another, each under its own chief, until the 
time of Chiod wig [Clovis], the grandson of Merovaeus, 
or Merwig, who succeeded his father as king of the Franks 
b in 481. This monarch put an end to the Roman supremacy 
in Gaul by the overthrow of their governor, Syagrius, at 
Soissons, in 486; and, in conjunction with the Frankish 
king, Siegbert, who resided at Cologne (?), subdued a por¬ 
tion of the Alemanni (probably only those who dwelt on 
the left bank of the Rhine, between the Moselle and Alsace) 
in a battle fought (perhaps) near Tolbiacum or Ziilpich. 
Having embraced the Catholic religion, in fulfilment of a 
vow made during the battle, Chlodwig caused himself to 
be anointed and crowned king of the Franks by Remigius, 
c bishop of Rheims. After subduing the Armorici in Brittany, 
he marched against his southern neighbours, the Burgun¬ 
dians and Visigoths; who were reduced to the condition 
of tributaries, after sustaining a defeat at Dijon in 500, 
but speedily recovered their independence. Under pre¬ 
tence of expelling the Arian heretics from Gaul, Chlodwig 
again attacked them, and after obtaining a decisive victory 
at Vougle, on the Vienne, near Poictiers, where he slew 
their king, Alaric II., with his own hand (507), deprived 
them of all their possessions in Gaul, except the southern 
portion. After this war Chlodwig transferred his residence 
b to Paris. All the Frankish clans were at length united into 
one kingdom, their petty sovereigns (Siegbert of Cologne, 
Chararich of Belgium, and Ragnachar of Cambrai) having 
been previously removed by assassination. After the death 
of Chlodwig, in 511, the empire was divided among his 
four sons, Dietrich [Thierry], Clodomer, Childebert, and 
Clotar [Clothaire], who fixed their respective residences at 
Metz, Orleans, Paris, and Soissons. The king of Metz over¬ 
threw the Thuringian and Burgundian empires about the year 
533, and shared the Burgundian territory with the kings of 
Paris and Soissons, who had assisted him in its conquest. 


THE MEROVINGIANS. 


21 


41 — 44 . § 13 .] 

The empire of the Franks was still further enlarged when (40) 
the Ostrogoths, in order to prevent the formation of an a 
alliance between the Franks and Byzantines, ceded to the 
former the Ostrogothic territories in Gaul (Provence) and 
the Alemannic settlements in Rhcetia. The Bavarians, 
also, were incorporated into the empire, retaining their own 
duke. 

The empire of the Franks was reunited under Clotar I. 41 
[Clothaire], the youngest of Chlodwig’s sons, who survived 
all his brothers and their descendants. After his death 
the monarchy, wdiich had been consolidated for three years 
(558—561), was again divided into four kingdoms, by 
his four sons, an arrangement which remained until the 
death of Charibert, king of Paris, in 569, when the number 
was reduced to three : viz. 

a. Austrasia, or the eastern empire, comprehending b 
the north-eastern portion of Gaul, with parts of southern 
Gaul; and, in Germany, the territory of the Franconians, 
Thuringia, and the duchies of Bavaria and Alemannia, 
or Swabia. Capital—Metz. 

b. Neustria,or the western empire, also Soissons, com¬ 
prising the whole of north-w r estern Gaul, from the Waal to 
the Loire, and a part of Aquitania. Capital—Soissons. 

c. Burgundy, or the southern empire, containing besides c 
the ancient Burgundian territory, the former kingdom of 
Orleans (as well as Sundgau, Alsace, Thurgau, and parts 
of Aquitania and Provence). Capital—Orleans. 

Paris continued to be the common capital of the three 42 
kingdoms. 

The history of Clotar s [Clothaire’s] successors is a cata- 43 
logue of intestine disturbances, treasons, and murders, occa¬ 
sioned principally by the rivalry of the two queens Brune- 
hilde (who murdered ten kings and princes of the blood 
royal) and Fredegunde. The empire was a second time 
united by Clotar [Clothaire] II. in 613. 

The Frankish empire under the administration d 
of the majores domus, 613—752. 

In the reign of Clotar [Clothaire] II. we first hear of three 44 
majores domus, i. e. heads of the royal household (gasindi); 
who acted also as chief stewards of the royal demesnes and 
fiefs (see § 14); viz. one in Austrasia, one in Neustria, and 
one in Burgundy. The major domus of Austrasia, Pepin of 


22 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 45 . § 14 . 

(44) Landen, of a distinguished house in Liittich, or Liege, in- 
a duced Clotar II. to cede Austrasia (in 622) to his elder 
son, Dagobert, who, after the death of his father and his 
younger brothers, united the Frankish monarchy for 
the third time (631). Pepin became major domus of the 
whole empire, from which, however, the Austrasians soon 
afterwards separated themselves, under Dagobert I. As 
few of his successors attained the age, and none possessed 
the vigour, of manhood, the sceptre of the Frankish mon¬ 
archy was in reality wielded by their majores domus. One 
of these officers, named Pepin of Heristal, a grandson 
of Pepin of Landen, after his victory at Testri, in 687, be¬ 
came sole major domus of France, with the title of duke 
b and prince of the Franks. After his death, in 714, the 
succession to the office was disputed among his sons for 
ten years, and finally decided in favour of Charles Mar¬ 
tel, w r ho reduced the rebellious dukes of the tributary 
nations Alemannia, Bavaria, and Thuringia, defeated the 
Arabians (who had invaded France) between Tours and 
Poictiers, in 732, and subdued the Frieses and a portion 
of the Saxons. His sons Carloman and Pepin the Short 
[Pepin le Bref] held the office conjointly, until the retire¬ 
ment of Carloman into a convent (Monte Cassino), when 
c the entire administration of the kingdom devolved on 
Pepin. Having secured the respect of the nobles and 
people by his bravery in the Saxon and Bavarian wars, 
and conciliated the clergy by the support which he afforded 
to Archbishop Bonifacius, in his plans for the reformation 
of the Church, Pepin, with the consent of Pope Zacharias, 
summoned a general assembly of the empire, which met at 
Soissons, and deposed the incapable king, Childeric III., 
who retired into a convent. Pepin was then chosen king of 
the Franks, and anointed by Bonifacius in the year 752. 

§ 14. Religion, Manners, and Customs of the West, par¬ 
ticularly of the Frankish Empire. 

1. Religion. 

45 a. Introduction of Christianity. It is worthy of remark, 
d that Arianism was adopted only by those German tribes 
who had previously been worshippers of Odin,—the East 
and West Goths, Vandals, and Lombards; whilst, on the 


23 


46. § 14.] RELIGION, &C., OF THE WEST. 

other hand, no trace can be found of such a worship among (45) 
the disciples of Catholicism,—the Frieses, Franks, Ale- a 
manni, Thuringians, Burgundians, and Suevi. At a later 
period, the West Goths [or Visigoths] and Lombards were 
persuaded by their kings to renounce Arianism, and embrace 
the Catholic faith. At the commencement of this period the 
Germans were still heathens, and their religion nearly the 
same as that described by Tacitus. (Comp. § 2.) It would 
seem, however, that the pure adoration of nature which they 
originally professed, degenerated, after a time, into idolatry 
(e. g. the Irminsul), in consequence of their intercourse 
with civilized nations; and eventually into a sort of Fetish 
worship. Although Chlodwig and his followers embraced b 
C hristianity after their victory over the Alemanni, an ex¬ 
ample which was gradually followed by the remainder of 
the Frankish nation, no attempt was made either by that 
monarch or his immediate successors, to convert their tri¬ 
butaries in Germany, — the Alemanni, Bavarians, and Thu¬ 
ringians. The Burgundians, soon after their settlement in 
Gaul, embraced the Catholic religion. In the reign of 
Dagobert I., some efforts were made by the Frankish 
bishops for the propagation of the Gospel; but the work 
was still more effectually performed by missionaries from 
Ireland. The Alemanni were converted by Columban and c 
his disciple, Gallus, and some attempts were made by 
Kilian in Thuringia; but the conversion of the Germans is 
principally due to Winfried [Winifred] of Wessex, after¬ 
wards called Boni facius, and the “ Apostle of Germany ” 

(717—754), w ho preached to the Frieses and Catti, or Hes¬ 
sians (destruction of the sacred oak at Geismar), founded 
churches, convents, and schools; established new bishoprics, 
which were immediately subject to the see of Rome; held 
the first synods in Germany ; and after filling the office of 
bishop (723) and archbishop (732) without any settled dio¬ 
cese, w r as finally appointed archbishop of Mainz [Mayence] 
(745), and suffered martyrdom among the Frieses in 754. 

b. The Monastic Life , considered independently of those 46 
ascetic institutions (the Pythagorean obligation, the Essenes, d 
& c.), which existed previously to the Christian aera, seems 
to have originated with those holy men who were com¬ 
pelled to lead secluded lives by the persecutions to which 
they were exposed as professors of Christianity. A con- 


24 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 47 , 48 . § 14 . 

(46) siderable number of these solitaries (monachi), who had 
a taken refuge in the Egyptian desert, established themselves 
in huts round the dwelling of St. Anthony (about 305), 
whose disciple, Pachomius, assembled them on the island 
Tabenna, in the Nile, within the walls of a single building, 
denominated Ccenobium, or Monasterium, under the pre¬ 
sidency of a chief (abbas, hence the term “ abbot”). From 
Egypt these Coenobites rapidly spread over the neighbour¬ 
ing districts, as well as over Europe. In the west a new 
form was given to this institution by St. Benedict, of 
Nursia (480—543). His “rule,” framed originally for 
the convent (claustrum) founded by him on Monte Cassino, 
near Naples, was gradually adopted in all the western 
b monasteries. It required that all who entered a monastery 
should, at the expiration of their novitiate, solemnly pro¬ 
mise to pass the remainder of their lives in the convent, 
and take the threefold vow of poverty, chastity, and obedi¬ 
ence. From the sixth to the ninth century, the cultivation 
of the soil, and the introduction of Christianity among the 
German and Sclavonic tribes, made rapid progress, in con¬ 
sequence of the activity and intelligence of the monks. 

47 c. Relation of the Church to the State. As the king was 
considered the protector of the Church within his own do¬ 
minions, and the emperor its supreme defender, it followed, 
of course, that the excommunication of the Church and the 

c ban of the empire were inseparable. The most capricious 
inroads on the privileges of the Church were made by the 
emperor and kings ; in the collation, for instance, to epis¬ 
copal sees, which the king or queen sometimes bestowed 
even on laymen; and in the confirmation, by the eastern 
emperor, of the pope’s election. The jurisdiction conceded 
to the bishops, which at first had been restricted to eccle¬ 
siastical causes, extended itself gradually to all matters in 
which the duties of religion or of conscience were involved. 
The heaviest ecclesiastical punishment was excommunica¬ 
tion. 

48 2. Political constitution. 

d Oriyin and Development of the German States. —The 
warlike enterprises of the ancient German nations were of 
two sorts: 1. Those in which all the freemen capable of 
bearing arms served under the command of a duke chosen 
from one of the principal families. These were, generally 


GERMAN STATES. 


25 


48 , 49 . § 14 .] 

speaking, defensive wars. 2. Expeditions or forays, under- (48) 
taken by an army composed of vassals (Gasindi, Leudes), a 
for purposes of plunder and conquest. Their leader was 
either the proposer of the expedition, or a warrior chosen 
for the occasion. A third of the land belonging to the 
countries which they conquered was claimed by the con¬ 
querors (e. g. Odoacer and Theodoric the Great), or some¬ 
times two-thirds (the Burgundians, Suevi, West Goths, and 
possibly Vandals), but rarely the whole (the Langobardi 
and Anglo-Saxons). The conqueror established a settle¬ 
ment in the conquered country. The leader retained his 
office as lord or captain of his followers, even after the 
conquest was completed ; and after his death his nearest 
relation was elected to fill the vacant throne. Thus the b 
German monarchies were at once hereditary and elective. 

The election was followed by the elevation of the success¬ 
ful candidate on a shield. The king always appeared in 
public surrounded by the chiefs who composed the nobility 
of his kingdom. This order comprehended, a. The dukes 
and counts, or leaders of the divisions and sub-divisions of 
the clansmen, who, as the king’s lieutenants, exercised the 
functions of commanders and judges, and were at the 
same time invested with the four offices which existed at 
every German court, viz. : Marshal, Chamberlain, Butler, 
and Sewer, b. After the introduction of Christianity the c 
order included also the superior clergy, namely, the Ab¬ 
bots, Bishops, and Archbishops. The power of the kings 
consisted in their prerogative of calling out the army and 
of pronouncing judgment on offenders. Their depend¬ 
ence in some sort on the Roman Emperors, in whose 
service many of them had fought their way to the throne, 
was manifested by the eagerness with which some of them 
(Chlodwig, Theodoric the Great) sought the title of Ro¬ 
man Patricius or Consul ; and by the fact that they gene¬ 
rally considered themselves, at least with reference to their 
Roman subjects, as the Emperor’s lieutenants. The influ- d 
ence of Rome was seen also in the etiquette of their 
courts, as well as in their civic and provincial administra¬ 
tion, and the retention of the Roman code for the clergy 
and the Roman population. 

b. The feudal system. The territory obtained by 49 
conquest was divided by the king among his followers 
* c 


26 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 50 . § 14 . 

(49) (Gasindi), each receiving an allotment termed Allodium, 
a as an hereditary freehold which he was permitted to 
sub-divide at his pleasure. In this division, the king him¬ 
self received a larger allotment than the members of his 
suite, and was therefore in a condition to confer on some of 
his faithful followers (Vassen or Vassals), leasehold estates 
(termed fiefs, allodia, or beneficia), tenable for life, on 
condition of their swearing fidelity to the sovereign and 
engaging to render military service when called on. Thus 
the whole body of allodial proprietors were gradually 
b reduced to the condition of vassals. The chief of these 
vassals was the major domus (regise), who, as the king’s 
first lieutenant, led the serfs to battle, disposed of the 
royal patronage, and sometimes (in Austrasia), represented 
the king on the judgment-seat, in the place of the comes 
Palatii, who was subject to his authority. At first, the 
fiefs were not hereditary, but this privilege was gradually 
either granted by the kings or usurped by the vassals. 
As the feudal lord was bound to protect his vassals, many 
of the small proprietors, conscious of their own weakness, 
made over their allodes to some powerful neighbour, from 
whom they received them back as fiefs (feudum oblatum). 
Thus many of the allodes were converted into feudal 
c estates. At the same time their military system under¬ 
went a revolution correspondent to the political changes 
which had been effected among the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, 
Lombards, and many other Germanic tribes. The army 
was now composed partly of independent inhabitants of 
separate Gaus, under the command of their Count, and 
partly of vassals under their feudal Lords. The former 
were called out, by a decree of the people, to defend the 
lands in their own immediate neighbourhood—the latter 
served in campaigns of every description in obedience to 
the sovereign’s command. Among the Franks, the army 
was annually reviewed in the Field of Mars. 

50 c. Legislation. Until the middle of the fifth century 
D the German tribes possessed only unwritten laws; in the 
three next centuries, written leges w r ere introduced amongst 
the united nations of the Frankish empire (Sabi, Ripuarii, 
Alemanni, Bavarians, Burgundians, &c.), as well as 
among the West Goths, Lombards, and Anglo-Saxons. 
All these codes, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon, 


51 . § 14 .] 


MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 


27 


were drawn up in Latin, and seem to have been the work (50) 
of deliberative councils, or the result of compacts made a 
between the king and his people. Among the Eastern and 
Western Goths and Burgundians we find a statute book 
published by the king, and containing simply Roman laws« 
(edictum Theodoricianum, breviarium Alaricianum, lex 
Romana Burgundionum). These statutes, especially the 
lex Salia, are almost exclusively penal. As a general rule 
none but serfs could be punished with death, or undergo 
corporal chastisement: the freeman was allowed to com¬ 
pound for his violations of the law by the payment of a 
fine (compositio) ; if unable to discharge the penalty, he 
became the slave of the injured party. Even murder could b 
be expiated by the payment of a pecuniary compensation 
(reckoned in solidis or shillings) to the relations of the 
deceased. Their courts of justice were of three sorts. 

1. The Gau-Court; held by the Count, assisted by Schoffen, 
or jurymen chosen from the freemen. 2. Palatine courts, 
in which the lord of an exempt district (immunitas), assisted 
by his dependents, decided questions within the jurisdiction 
of his court. 3. Feudal courts, in which the feudal lord 
settled the disputes of his vassals, of whom a certain 
number acted as his assessors. There were four sorts of 
proof:—1. Documentary (rare). 2. Witnesses. 3. Thee 
oath of the prosecutor and his consacramentales. 4. The 
Ordeal, which consisted of the trial by fire (red-hot 
iron, ploughshares, coals, logs of wood, gloves, &c\), the 
trial by boiling or cold water, and the judicial combat, or 
duel between the accused and his accuser. 

III. Manners and Customs. 

The advantages which agriculture derived from the 51 
assiduous cultivation of their estates by the free proprietors, 
and subsequently by the monks, were in some degree neu¬ 
tralized by the manner in which the land was parcelled out 
into large farms, and by the general employment of bonds¬ 
men. The same circumstances and the absence of cities, d 
were also obstacles to the advancement of manufacturing 
industry : commercial enterprize was checked by numerous 
imposts and by the insecurity of the roads ; and lastly, 
Christianity, in consequence of the universal and deeply- 
rooted depravity and ferocity of manners, scarcely exer- 

c 2 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


28 


[ 52 — 54 . § 15 . 


(51) cised any beneficial influence over the people until the 
a commencement of the succeeding period. 

52 IV. Scientific knowledge was almost exclusively 
in the hands of the secular clergy and monks. Their 
system of education comprised the seven liberal arts, 
as they were called, or the Trivium (i. e. the study of 
classical literature, rhetoric, and dialectics), and Quadri- 
vium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music). 
The best educational establishments were in England, at 
Cambridge, York, and Canterbury, from which learned 
men were from time to time sent out to enlighten the 
neighbouring continent. Among these the most remark- 

b able were the Venerable Bede, Boniface, and Alcuin. 
The literature of this period contains only works in the 
Latin language. The most important are Boethii conso- 
latio philosophic, the philosophical and historical writings 
of Cassiodorus, extracts by Jornandes from the history of 
the Goths by Cassiodorus, Frankish ecclesiastical history 
by Gregory of Tours, Spanish by Isidorus, and English 
by the Venerable Bede, who introduced the Christian mode 
of reckoning time into the West. 

V. Art. 

53 The transition from the ancient to the modern style of 
c architecture is seen in the old gothic style among the Ostro¬ 
goths, and in the tasteless architecture of Lombardy, 
which was adopted, with a mixture of the Byzantine, in 
all the other German states. First specimens of Christian 
painting. 

B. The East. 

§ 15. The Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire , 

395—867. 


54 Extent of the empire: Since the year 395, from 
d the Ionian (and at a later period from the Adriatic) Sea in 
the West, to Tigranocerta on the Tigris, Circesium on the 
Euphrates and the Arabian Desert in the East; and from 
the Danube and the Black Sea in the North, to Ethiopia 
and the Libyan Desert in the South. To this empire was 
added the kingdom of the Vandals in 534, the whole of 
Italy in 554—568, and at a later period the Exarchate 


55 . § 15 .] 


HISTORY. 


29 


(the limits of which became daily more restricted), and a (54) 
few cities on the southern coast of Spain. In the seventh a 
century the empire lost all its Asiatic possessions with the 
exception of Asia Minor; in the seventh and eighth, 
Africa, the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, Dalmatia, and 
the right bank of the Lower Danube ; and in the ninth, 
Sicily, Candia, and Cyprus.—Military division of the 
empire into twenty-nine Themata. 

History. 

1. Period of the rise of the empire—from the 
year 395 to the death of Justinian in 565. 

(1.) Arcadius (395—408), who had received for his 55 
portion the larger (eastern) half, at the division of the empire b 
by his father Theodosius (com. B. i. 3, § 111), was 
governed at the commencement of his reign by a Gaul 
named Ruffinus, then by the Eunuch Eutropius, at a later 
period by Gainas a Goth, and finally by his avaricious 
consort Eudoxia, The Huns, who had invaded the 
Asiatic provinces, were conciliated by the payment of a 
tribute, and Alaric, leader of the Western Goths, induced 
to withdraw his forces from Macedonia and Greece by a 
grant of the praefecture of Eastern Ulyricum. (2.) His 
son and successor, Theodosius I. (under the guardianship 
of his sister Pulcheria), was twice compelled to increase 
the yearly payment to the Huns (the last time to 2100 
pounds of gold). On the other hand, when the Byzantines c 
and Persians divided, between them the kingdom of Arme¬ 
nia, Theodosius received the western part (and of the 
western empire, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Noricum). The 
codex Theodosianus was the first published digest of laws. 
Theodosius w r as succeeded by (3.) Pulcheria and her para¬ 
mour Marcian, who, after the dissolution of the Hunnish 
empire, added to the southern Danube provinces several 
nations (e. g. the Eastern Goths), formerly subject to the 
Huns. (4.) Leo I. (Macella), the first emperor crowned d 
by the Patriarch of Constantinople, engaged unsuccessfully 
in an expedition against the Vandals (see § 9). The 
Ostrogothic Prince, Theodoric (who had been placed in 
his hands as the pledge of an alliance which he had 
purchased from that nation), was educated at Constan¬ 
tinople, and became the conqueror of Italy under the 
auspices of (5.) Zeno, the successor of Leo (comp. § 8). 

c 3 


30 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 56 . § 15 . 

(55) (6.) Anastasius, after the first invasion of the Bulgarians, 
a protected his capital by a long wall, which extended from 
the Black Sea to the sea of Marmora. (7.) Justin I., a 
Thracian peasant, was first appointed commander-in-chief 
of the body-guard, and then raised to the imperial throne, 
which he shared with his nephew 
56 (8.) Justinian, 527—565, who became sole emperor 

at the end of four months. Theodora, the wife of this 
emperor, a woman of debauched character, who had 
formerly been an actress, exercised an influence which 
her profligate and cruel disposition rendered exceedingly 
injurious to the interests of the empire. His first and 
greatest work was the Improvement of the Roman 
Code by (a.) the Codex Justinianus (12 B.), a digest of 
Roman law, prepared by ten distinguished lawyers, under 
b the superintendence of Tribonian. This work was soon 
found defective, and at the end of six years there appeared 
a new and improved edition, b. The Institutiones, a 
manual of Roman law. c. The Pandectae, or Digesta, a 
collection of the most important interpretations and de¬ 
cisions, from the writings of forty distinguished jurists, 
d. The Novellas, or supplement, containing some laws of 
Justinian, and others of succeeding reigns. The tranquillity 
of the empire was disturbed by the Nika, an insurrection 
in the Hippodrome at Constantinople, occasioned by the 
arrogance of the blue faction (which was favoured by the 
emperor), and suppressed (in 532) by the butchery of 
c 30,000 of the green. The imperial palace, which had been 
injured, and the church of St. Sophia, which was burnt 
in this insurrection, were both restored in a style of 
greater magnificence. Having secured his northern frontier 
by a chain of more than eighty fortresses, extending from 
the Save to the mouth of the Danube, and the eastern 
partly by entrenchments and alliances, and partly by 
putting an end (by a bought peace) to the Persian war,* which 
had broken out in the reign of Justin, Justinian undertook 
d the restoration of the Roman empire. In pursu¬ 
ance of this object the empire of the Vandals was destroyed 
by Belisarius; and after a war, begun by that general and 
terminated by Narses at the end of eighteen years, the Ostro- 

* In this war, the Persian general, Narses, went over to the By¬ 
zantines, and Belisarius gained his first laurels. 


HISTORY. 


31 


57 . § 15 .] 

gothic empire, already weakened by intestine divisions, (56) 
became subject to Justinian. The conquests of Belisarius a 
in Africa and Italy, excited jealousy and apprehension in 
the mind of the Persian king Chosroes (or Nushirwan), who 
renewed the war (partly at the instigation of the Ostro¬ 
goths), invaded Syria, burnt Antiochia, and was threaten¬ 
ing Palestine, when the appearance of Belisarius in the 
east compelled him to retreat. After long negotiations, 
which were interrupted by a dispute respecting the posses¬ 
sion of the eastern shores of the Black Sea, peace was 
concluded, the ancient frontier line being restored, and 
Chosroes renouncing all claim to the disputed territories in 
consideration of an annual tribute. Conquest of the b 
southern coast of Spain (see § 11). The constant wars in 
this reign, terminated in some instances by a disgraceful 
peace, and the enormous sums expended in the erection of 
costly buildings, soon exhausted the exchequer which 
Anastasius had left full, and involved the empire in debt, 
notwithstanding the attempts made to meet the expenditure 
by the imposition of oppressive taxes, and the sale of 
public offices and government monopolies. 

II. Period of the decline of the empire from 
565 to the accession of the Macedonian Em¬ 
perors in 867. 

In the reign of Justinian’s immediate successor (his 57 
nephew, Justin II.), began the conquests of the Lombards c 
in Italy (comp. § 8. IV.), and a renewal of the wars with 
Persia, which occupied almost without intermission the 
four succeeding emperors, the last of whom HeraclTus 
(610—641), lost Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Asia Minor 
to the Persians, who were in the act of encamping under 
the walls of his capital, when the suburbs were plundered 
by the Avars, whose empire at that time extended from 
the Volga to the Saale and Ems—northward to the Car¬ 
pathian mountains, and southward to the Danube. In this d 
extremity, the emperor would have fled to Carthage, but 
at the intercession of the Patriarch he abandoned his inten¬ 
tion, landed with an army in Syria, and after three cam¬ 
paigns, and a victory at Nineveh (627), recovered the 
four countries which had been wrested from him by the 
Persians. Soon afterwards, however, Syria, Palestine, 
Phoenicia, and Egypt, fell into the hands of the Ara- 

c 4 


32 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 57 . § 15 . 

(57) bians, and the southern coast of Spain into those of 
a the Visigoths. Under his successors the limits of the 

<D 

empire were still further circumscribed, in the west by 
the Lombards, who were continually enlarging their 
Italian dominions at the expense of the Exarchate (see 
§ 8. III.), in the north by repeated invasions of the Bul¬ 
garians, who made themselves masters of Moesia, and in 
the east and south by the Arabians. These last not only 
subdued the islands of Cyprus and Rhodes, Armenia, the 
whole northern coast of Africa, and (in the ninth century) 
Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia, but even ventured to attack 
Constantinople itself, which they besieged every summer 
from 070 to 678, and again from 717 to 718, but were 
b each time repulsed by the Greek fire. Whilst the pro¬ 
vinces were thus falling, one after another, into the hands 
of the neighbouring powers, the empire itself was convulsed 
by the disputes of political and religious parties. Succes¬ 
sive emperors were hurled from the throne, deprived of 
sight, maimed, shut up in convents, or put to death, some¬ 
times through the intrigues of ambitious consorts and their 
paramours, sometimes by their own sons, their ministers, 
or the victorious generals of their armies. The religious 
feuds were for the most part occasioned by dogmatic 
differences, such for example as (1.) The controversy re¬ 
specting the distinction between the divine and human 
natures of our Lord, pronounced to be an orthodox doctrine 
c by the council of Chalcedon, 451. This dispute not only 
occasioned the separation of the Monophysites from the Ca¬ 
tholic church, but was even productive of schisms among 
those heretics themselves. An attempt of the Emperor 
Heraclius to reconcile the contending dogmatists by a 
declaration that two natures were indeed united in the 
person of our Lord, but that both had been actuated by 
only one will, served merely to augment the number of 
heresies by the addition of the Monotheletes, (2.) who were 
condemned by a council held at Constantinople in the year 
d 680. A remnant of these heretics formed the sect of the 
Maronites. (3.) The iconoclastic controversy, which 
lasted more than a hundred years, was occasioned by a 
decree of the Emperor Leo III. (Isauricus), commanding 
(in 726) the removal from the churches of all images, 
except that of our Saviour. Notwithstanding the vehe- 


58 , 59 . § 15 .] 


HISTORY. 


33 


ment opposition of the monks and the pope, this de- (57) 
cree was carried into effect, and the images either dashed a 
in pieces or burnt. The worship of images having been 
condemned as heretical by the seventh oecumenical council 
(held at Constantinople in 754), their destruction was 
carried on with augmented zeal by succeeding emperors 
until the reign of Irene, when it was interrupted for 
awhile, to be renewed in the following reign. Their 
restoration was at last effected by Theodora, the guardian 
of her son Michael III. The degradation of the Patri- b 
arch of Constantinople by this emperor, prepared the 
way for the separation of the Greek and Roman churches. 

He was assassinated on account of his acts of ferocious 
cruelty, by his favourite, Basilius the Macedonian, in the 
year 867. (4.) The persecution of the sect of the Pauli- 

cians, who eventually, with the aid of the Arabians, 
ravaged Asia Minor, and waged war successfully against 
Michael III. 

Political constitution, arts, sciences, &c. 

1. The constitution , which the Roman empire had re- 5S 
ceived from Constantine the Great (see B. i. 3. § 110), was 
preserved in its integrity, the emperors continuing to enjoy 
unlimited power. They were crowned and anointed by c 
the Patriarch of Constantinople, assumed the title of 
Roman Emperors, and sought to conceal their real weak¬ 
ness by the adoption of sounding titles, a gorgeous costume, 
and a rigid court ceremonial. The senate, it is true, still 
remained, but without authority or political influence ; the 
only deliberative council being the consistorium principis, 

an assembly composed entirely of imperial favorites, who 
were consulted from time to time as occasion required. 

In the reign of Justinian, the Roman consulship ceased to 
exist, even in name, the only dates now employed being 
the years of the emperor’s reign, according to the Indiction- 
Cycle of fifteen years. Political importance of the colours d 
in the Hippodrome. The provinces were handed over to 
governors, who purchased their offices, and exercised al¬ 
most irresponsible authority, to the great disgust of the 
oppressed and plundered provincials. 

2. Language and Literature. The language of the court, 59 
after its removal to Constantinople, continued for a time 

to be Latin, but was afterwards a corrupted Greek. 

c 5 


34 THE MIDDLE AGES. [GO, 61. § 15. 

(59) Poetry was confined almost entirely to the epigram. 
a Schools of the new Platonic philosophy, grammar, and 
rhetoric, flourished at Constantinople, at Athens, until the 
reign of Justinian, and at Edessa and Alexandria until the 
Arabian dynasty. The most renowned school of jurispru¬ 
dence was at Berytus in Phoenicia. Medicinal science was 
most successfully cultivated at Alexandria. The writings 
of the Byzantine historians were either chronicles from the 
creation of the world to their own times (as Syncellus), or 
biographies of individual emperors, for the most part mere 
compilations without plan, judgment, or taste. 

60 3. Art. The establishment of Christianity as the re- 
b ligion of the state, and the removal of the Roman court to 

Byzantium, gave new life to art, especially during the 
brilliant reign of Justinian. The distinguishing features of 
ancient Christian architecture, as seen in its greatest per¬ 
fection in the church of St. Sophia, built by Justinian, 
were the cruciform plan, and the dome resting on arches, 
supported by massive piles *. Simplicity of taste was 
almost lost amidst a profusion of marbles of the most 
varied and brilliant colours. All visible personifications of 
the Deity being forbidden by the Christian religion, the 
only works of sculpture were statues representing emperors, 
generals, and statesmen in their gorgeous robes of office, 
c ornaments for the altar, and sacred vessels. The interior 
of the churches was generally ornamented with Mosaic of 
the most brilliant colours, composed of gold and costly 
marbles. The earliest specimens of Christian sculpture 
and painting are found in the ninth century, when images 
of the saints were first permitted by the Greek church. 
The modern Greek or Byzantine style of architecture 
found its way into the west as far as Britain and the 
Moorish settlements in Spain, as well as into Arabia. A 
knowledge of painting was also generally diffused by the 
artists who were driven from the east by the iconoclastic 
controversy. 

61 4. Commerce and Manufactures. The operations of 
d commerce were sorely cramped by the almost perpetual 

wars, barbarian invasions, the insecurity of the roads, and 
oppressive taxation and monopolies. A direct trade was 


[ ! See Gibbon, chap. xl. § 5.] 


ARABIA. 


35 


62 , 63 . § 16 .] 

carried on with the shores of the Mediterranean, which (61) 
had been reconquered by Justinian, and were for the most a 
part inhabited by rude and barbarous nations ; whilst, on 
the other hand, the trade with India was conducted through 
the intervention of the Persians, and at a later period of the 
Arabians. The situation of Constantinople rendered it the 
principal emporium for western as well as eastern produce. 
Manufacturing industry was fostered by the luxury of a 
brilliant court, and was greatly promoted by the introduc¬ 
tion of silkworms, the eggs of which were brought in 
hollow canes from China to Constantinople by missionaries 
in the reign of Justinian. 

5. Manners .—The demoralization of this luxurious 62 
court extended to the great body of the people, who gave b 
themselves up to coarse and sensual enjoyment in defiance 
alike of ecclesiastical censures, severe laws, and the most 
fearful punishments. 

§ 16. The Arabians. 

Geography of Arabia. 

The peninsula of Arabia, the superficial area of which 63 
is four times greater than that of Germany or France, c 
consists partly of a table-land traversed by ranges of moun¬ 
tains, entirely destitute of water, and forming a huge sea 
of shifting sands, and partly of narrow strips of flat land 
along the sea-coast, all equally barren, with the exception 
of the south-western portion, which, on account of its 
fertility, was called by the ancients, Arabia Felix (hod. 
Jemen). The inhabitants are partly Bedouins, whose lives 
are spent in wandering, either in single families under their 
Scheiks, or in large clans under Emirs, in search of 
w r ater and pasture, and partly inhabitants of cities (of which 
the most celebrated are Mecca and Medina), where they 
maintain themselves by agriculture, trade, and manufac¬ 
tures. Before the time of Mohammed, their religion was d 
a worship of the stars. Their national sanctuary, the 
Caaba or temple at Mecca (with its black stone, formerly 
venerated as divine), was superintended by the family 
of Haschem, of the tribe of Koreisch. Circumcision 
and abstinence from pork, as among the Jews and 
Egyptians. 

c 6 


3 6 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 64 — 66 . § 1 6 . 


History of the Arabians. 

64 The Arabians, who trace their origin to Ishmael, the son 
a of Abraham and Hagar, have always retained their inde¬ 
pendence, with the exception of the inhabitants of Arabia 
Petrsea, which for a short time (a.d. 106) was subject to 
the Romans. 

1. From Mohammed to the Dynasty of the 
Ommaijades, 622—661. 

65 Mohammed was born at Mecca in the year 571, and 
b after the death of his parents (who belonged to the power¬ 
ful tribe of Koreisch and the family of Haschem), was 
brought up by an uncle (Abu-Taleb). By a fortunate 
marriage with a rich widow, he was enabled to gratify 
without restraint his taste for religious seclusion. One 
month of every year was passed in a cave in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Mecca, whence he sallied forth to proclaim himself 
the ambassador of the One God, by whom, as he declared, 
a commission had been granted him to restore the religion 

c of Abraham. This doctrine which at first was preached 
(609) only to the members of his own family, but subse¬ 
quently promulgated to the world, was vehemently op¬ 
posed by the Koreischites, whose persecutions at length 
drove him, in company with Abu-Bekr, to seek an asylum 
in the city of Medina, July 15, 622. From this flight the 
Arabians date their sera Hegira (Hedschra). From Me¬ 
dina, where he assumed the authority of king, and married 
the daughter of Abu-Bekr, Mohammed propagated the 
doctrines of Islamism by the sword. In the year 629, he 
took the holy city of Mecca, converted the Caaba into the 
national sanctuary of the true believers (Moslem), com¬ 
pleted the conquest of Arabia, and invited the king of 
Persia and the Byzantine emperor (Heraclius) to embrace 
d Islamism. He died at Medina, in 632, leaving behind 
him only one daughter (Fatima), the wife of Ali. 

The four first caliphs, 632—661. 

66 1. Abu-Bekr (632 — 34), the father-in-law of the 
prophet, who collected the sayings of Mohammed into a 
book called the Koran. His general, Khaled, began a war 
with Persia, and the conquest of Syria. 


ARABIA. 


67—69. § 1C.] 


37 


2. Omar (634—43), another father-in-law of the pro- 67 
phet. His generals took Damascus, completed the con- a 
quest of Syria, and made themselves masters of Palestine, 
which was visited by Omar himself (in very humble guise) 
for the purpose of concluding a capitulation with the 
Christians at Jerusalem, to whom he granted full toleration 
on condition of receiving a yearly tribute. The conquest of 
Phoenicia enabled the Arabians to take rank as a maritime 
power. The war with Persia was prosecuted successfully 
(victory at Cadesia in 636, and Nohavend in 642). At the 
same time, Amru subdued Egypt, after a war which lasted 
two years (narrative of the burning of the Alexandrian 
library x , by order of Omar, probably incorrect), and ad¬ 
vanced into Africa as far as Tripoli. 

3. Othman (643—56). A son-in-law of the prophet, gg 
The conquest of the Persian empire was completed in 651, B 
together with that of the whole of northern Africa, as far 

as Ceuta; Cyprus was compelled to pay tribute, Rhodes 
taken, and the fragments of its famous colossus sold. The 
discontent occasioned by the avarice and nepotism of 
Othman, produced an insurrection in Medina, which ended 
in his assassination and the accession of 

4. Ali (656—661), another son-in-law of the prophet (39 
(husband of Fatima), was placed on the throne by the 
assassins, but not generally recognized as Caliph, many 
persons believing that the murder of Othman had been 
perpetrated at his instigation. In order to strengthen his c 
authority, Ali confided the administration of the provinces 

to friends of his own ; an arrangement by no means ac¬ 
ceptable to the governors actually in possession, most of 
whom, (especially Moawijah, governor of Syria, who 
caused himself to be proclaimed Caliph, and Amru, gover¬ 
nor of Egypt), united to oppose the usurper. After several 
(90) insignificant but bloody engagements, a conspiracy 
was entered into by three Arabians, to restore tranquillity 
by the murder of Ali, Amru, and Moawijah—all of whom 
escaped the dagger of the assassin except Ali, whose son, 
Hassan, succeeded him on the throne, but was compelled 
to abdicate in favour of Moawijah. 


1 [“ The answer of Omar was inspired by the ignorance of a 
fanatic. If these writings agree with the book of God, they are 
useless, and need not be preserved : if they disagree, they are per¬ 
nicious, and ought to be destroyed.” Gibbon, chap, li.j 


38 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[70. § 16. 


2. The Ommaijad Caliphs 661—750. 

70 Moawijah I., great-grandson of Ommaija, transferred 
a the residence of the caliphs from Medina to Damascus, and 
made the caliphate hereditary. Under the thirteen caliphs 
of this dynasty, the Arabian dominions were more extensive 
than at any other period of their history, a. Conquests in 
the West. The African subjects of the Arabians, being 
oppressed and compelled to pay tribute by the Byzantines 
(who still retained possession of Carthage), applied for aid 
to the Arabians, who stormed and sacked Carthage, ex¬ 
pelled the Byzantines from Africa, extended their domi¬ 
nions to the Atlantic, and strengthened their authority by 
b the conversion of the Barbary tribes to Islamism. From 
this province, Musa, on the invitation of a West-Gothic 
chief (Julian), despatched his lieutenant Tarek into Spain, 
where he overthrew the Goths, in a battle fought at Xerez 
de la Frontera (711), and had well-nigh completed the 
destruction of the West-Gothic empire, when Musa himself 
arrived in Spain, and threw the conqueror into a prison, 
where he was treated with great cruelty. Musa was on 
the eve of crossing the Pyrenees, when both generals were 
recalled by an order of the caliph (Walid). After a long and 
triumphal march from Spain to Syria, the aged commander- 
in-chief was exposed to the heat of the sun, scourged, 
c and compelled to pay a heavy fine. Meanwhile, his son 
had been murdered in Spain, and his head forwarded to the 
unhappy father. The Christians in Spain were permitted, 
on payment of a moderate tribute, to retain their language, 
laws, and the free exercise of their religion. The attempt 
of the Spanish viceroy Abderrahman to wrest Gaul from 
the feeble hands of the Frankish kings, w r as frustrated by 
his defeat at Tours and Poitiers (comp. § 13). b. In the 
East , the Arabians subdued Armenia, a portion of Asia 
Minor, the countries between the Black and Caspian seas, 
d and Turkestan. Even in India they had acquired possessions, 
of no great extent, nor occupied for any considerable length 
of time, but sufficiently important to place in their hands the 
whole trade of that peninsula. Two attempts on Constanti¬ 
nople were rendered abortive by the Greek fire (see § 15). 
During the progress of these events, the reigning dynasty 
was engaged in perpetual struggles with the family of 
Haschem and the adherents of Ali, as well as with the 


71, 72. § 16.] 


ARABIA. 


39 


rival caliphs, who were placed on the throne by the two (70) 
contending parties. At length, on the accession (in 750) a 
of Abul Abbas, a great-grandson of Abbas, uncle of the 
prophet, the dynasty of the Ommaijades was swept away 
in a torrent of blood (600,000 of their adherents having 
been put to death in Khorassan alone), and the throne of 
the Abbasides firmly established. Abderrahman alone 
escaped into Spain, where he established the caliphate at 
Cordova (comp. § 11). 

Religion, arts, and sciences, &c. 

1. The creed of the Arabians, or Islamism, was con- 71 
sidered by its founder merely a restoration of the religion b 
of Abraham, which, as he contended, had been also pro¬ 
mulgated by Moses, and our Blessed Lord, but grievously 
disfigured by their disciples. To Mohammed himself, as 
the last and greatest of the prophets, was intrusted the task 
of restoring this religion to its original purity. The Mo¬ 
hammedan system (Islam), is partly doctrinal (Iman), and 
partly practical (Din). Its principal articles of faith are, 
the unity of God, predestination, and retribution in the 
world to come. The moral law enjoins control over the c 
passions, war against unbelievers, prayer five times a day, 
repeated purifications with water or sand, almsgiving, fasts 
(during the month of Ramadan, daily, until sunset), absti¬ 
nence from wine, and a pilgrimage to the Caaba. It allows 
polygamy, and permits its followers to recompense evil 
for evil. The sacred writings of the Mohammedans are the 
Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Koran, or 
collection of the prophet’s sayings, preserved by Abu-Bekr, 
and arranged by Othman. This work was speedily fol¬ 
lowed by the Sunna, a collection of moral precepts, which 
many of the Mohammedans refused to recognize. Hence d 
the two sects of the Sunnites and Schiites. Conversion to 
Mohammedanism was produced not so much by argu¬ 
ment and conviction as by the sword. All vanquished 
nations were compelled either to pay tribute or conform 

to the new religion ; and slaves, prisoners, and malefactors 
were restored to freedom on declaring their assent to the 
doctrines of the Koran. These circumstances w ill account 
for the rapidity with which the religion of the Arabian im¬ 
postor was propagated. 

2. Political Constitution. The supreme ecclesiastical 72 


40 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[73, 74. § 16. 

72) as well as civil authority was vested in the caliphs. At 
a first they were required to render a weekly account of their 
administration to the people, who were consulted by them 
on all important occasions ; but at a later period (especially 
since the establishment of an hereditary caliphate by 
Moawijah) their power was completely despotic. The 
mode of life of the earliest caliphs was exceedingly simple 
(Omar’s journey to Jerusalem), but they soon learnt to 
imitate the luxury of the conquered nations, whose trea¬ 
sures supplied them with the means of enjoyment. The 
lieutenants of the provinces were invested with military as 
well as civil authority. Hence their power, and at a 
later period the renunciation of their allegiance to the 
caliphs. 

73 3. Arts and Sciences. As early as the fifth century 
y, there were poetical contests at the fair of Mecca, and seven 

poems are still extant (the Moallakat), composed by authors 
whose names were inscribed in letters of gold on the walls 
of the Caaba. The warlike enthusiasm of the nation and 
the fierce eagerness with which the earlier caliphs pursued 
their plans of conquest, prevented the cultivation of science, 
properly so called, until the reign of the Abbasides, when 
the Arabian conquerors learnt to emulate the learning of 
the Greeks. The golden age of Arabian architecture 
began (about 700) with the erection of mosques at Jeru- 
c salem and Damascus. Painting and sculpture were out 
of the question among a people whose religion condemned 
every representation of the human form. 

74 4. Trade and Manufactures being recommended by the 
Koran as employments pleasing to God, were held in high 
estimation among the Arabians. The conquest of the 
Persian empire had placed in their hands the commerce of 
India. Westward their maritime trade extended over the 
whole of the Mediterranean as far as the Straits of Gibraltar; 
in the south, they founded settlements along the whole 
eastern coast of Africa to the borders of Caftreland, and 
in the east they had a considerable factory at Canton in 

d China. The land traffic was carried on by means of cara¬ 
vans, which conveyed merchandize from Egypt into the 
interior of Africa on the one side, and on the other into 
Syria, and thence into central Asia. The principal markets 
for the products of the extreme west and east were, Me- 


THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 


41 


75, 76. § 17.] 

dina, Mecca, Kufa, Bassora, Damascus, Bagdad, Mosul, (74) 
and Madain. Notwithstanding the perpetual wars, trade a 
and manufactures of every description continued to flourish, 
especially on the shores of Barbary and Spain. 

§ 17. The modern Persian Empire , 226—651. 

The boundaries of the empire founded by Artaxerxes I. 75 
(Ardeschir), the son of Sassan (see B. i., 2, § 49), varied 
at different times. Under Chosroes I. it extended from the 
Mediterranean to the Indus, and from the Jaxartes to 
Arabia and Egypt, and under Chosroes II. to Jemen. The 
empire was divided into four provinces, viz. Assyria, 
Media, Persia, and Bactriana. The capital city was b 
Ctesiphon, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, with the 
suburb of Seleucia on the opposite side, forming together 
Madain, or the “double city.” 

The Persians were engaged in almost perpetual warfare 76 
either with the Turks or the eastern Roman empire (see 
§ 15). The most distinguished among the (25) Sassanides, 
next to the founder of the dynasty, was Chosroes I., sur- 
named Nushirvan, or the Just, a contemporary of Justinian, 
who terminated a war with the Byzantines, which had been 
inherited by his predecessor, but subsequently recom¬ 
menced hostilities in Syria at the instigation of the Ostro¬ 
goths. On the appearance, however, of Belisarius in the c 
east, he retraced his steps, and devoted all his energies to 
the Lazic war, at the conclusion of wdiich he renounced his 
claims on Colchis, on condition of receiving an annual tri¬ 
bute. During the forty-eight years of his reign (531—79) 
the prosperity of the empire was promoted not so much by 
foreign conquests, as by the establishment of domestic 
order and tranquillity. The government of the four great d 
provinces was entrusted to four viziers, whose administra¬ 
tion was subjected to a rigid supervision; an improved 
system of legislation, war, and finance was introduced ; 
agricultural enterprise encouraged by protection and by 
the artificial irrigation of the soil, higher and elementary 
schools established, learned Greeks entertained at his 
court, and the most celebrated Greek and Indian authors 
translated into Persian. Destruction of the empire by 
the Arabians, see § 16. 


42 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[77, 78. § 18. 


C. The North-East of Europe. 

§ 18. The Sclavonians. 

77 Until the beginning of the fifth century, the eastern 
A neighbours of Germany were denominated Wendes and 
Sarmatians. The last of these names was exchanged for 
that of Slaves or Sclavonians. Under Hermanric, these 
tribes were incorporated into the Gothic empire, and under 
Attila, into that of the Huns, and after the dissolution of 
those kingdoms, remained possessors of the eastern portion 
of Germany (as far as the Elbe), which had been depopu¬ 
lated by the migration of the Germans. They were divided 
into the Baltic Wendes, who retained their independence 
B the longest. 2. The Sorbes in central Germany (between 
the Elbe and the Saale), who were made tributary to the 
Franks. 3. The Slaves, in the more restricted significa¬ 
tion of the term, southwards from the Danube to Illyria, and 
westwards to Bavaria. The Slaves were delivered from 
the dominion of the Avars by their commander Samo, a 
Frank who had relapsed into heathenism. This general was 
recognized as king by most of the Slavish tribes, from 
Dalmatia to the Giant Mountains (Riesengebirge). After 
his death, the confederacy of the Slavish tribes was again 
dissolved, and new empires (e. g. those of the Croatians and 
Servians) arose from its ruins. The southern Slaves 
remained under the dominion of the Lombards. 
i 8 A certain similarity between the Slavish and Germanic 
c tribes appears not only in the vigorous structure of their 
bodies, but also to a certain extent in their religion (wor¬ 
ship of nature, without images), constitution (patriarchal), 
manner of life (avoidance of cities), and moral character, 
for example, in their hospitality, chastity, and fidelity to 
the marriage-bed. On the other hand, we find traces of 
physical and moral difference in the liveliness of the 
Slaves, their love of ornament and revelry, and the want 
of union among individual tribes under a common head ; in 
their practice of attacking from an ambuscade, their rapa¬ 
city after a victory, and the frequent cruelties practised 
towards their prisoners ; the burning of widows after the 
death of their husbands, the alacrity with which they 


43 


79, 80. § 19.] NORTH-EAST OF EUROPE. 

adopted the customs of neighbouring nations (Romans, (78) 
Greeks, Germans) ; their commercial enterprise at an early a 
period of their history, the navigation of their rivers ; and, 
in later times, their industrious cultivation of the soil which 
had been abandoned to their occupation by the Germans. 

The languages of the two nations exhibit some traces of a 
common origin, but the principles on which they are con¬ 
structed are totally dissimilar. 

§ 19. Other Nations in the East of Europe. 

1 . The Avars, who had been compelled by the Turks i ^ 
to evacuate their settlements in the north of Circassia, B 
ascended the Danube, and after twice demanding in 
vain an allotment of land in the Eastern Roman empire, 
took possession of Dacia, overthrew the empire of the 
Gepidae, with the assistance of the Lombards, established 
themselves in Pannonia, which had been abandoned by their 
allies, and wrested Dalmatia from the Byzantines. Thus, 

in the year 600, their empire extended from the Volga to 
the Saale and Ems : but, in the following century, its limits 
were gradually circumscribed by the secession of neigh¬ 
bouring states, — the Bulgarians declared themselves inde¬ 
pendent, Dalmatia was wrested from them by the Croatians 
and Servians, and the eastern portion of the empire fell 
into the hands of the Chazares. 

2. The Bulgarians. 

The Bulgarians, a Tartaric tribe, who had occupied 80 
from time immemorial the shores of the Volga and the Ural c 
mountains, ascended the Danube, and about the end of the 
lifth century made annual incursions into the Byzantine 
empire, laying waste the whole of the country from the 
Ionian Sea to the suburbs of Constantinople. Having 
effected a breach in the wall erected by Anastasius (see 
§ 15), for the defence of the Thracian Chersonese, they 
crossed the Hellespont, and returned laden with the spoils 
of Asia. The fortresses erected by Justinian on the Danube, 
opposed a barrier equally feeble to their destructive pro¬ 
gress. Their deliverance from the tyranny of the Avars, d 
to whom they had been tributary during a period of seventy 
years (562—635), was effected by one of their princes, 
named Kuvrat, who founded a mighty empire, which his 


44 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[81, 82. § 20. 

(80) sons divided among themselves after his death, the third 
a receiving for his portion Btdgaria Proper, or the territory 
lying between the Danube and the Haemus. 

81 3. The Chazares (also a Tartaric tribe) were masters, 

in the seventh century, of the whole of Southern Russia, 
from the Volga to the Dnieper, and were engaged in almost 
perpetual warfare with the Persians, and the Romans of the 
eastern empire. The famous Caucasian wall was erected 
by Chosroes I., as a barrier against their invasions. 


Second Period. 

From the Accession of the Carlovingians and Abbasides to the first 

Crusade, 752—1006. 

A. The West. 

§ 20. The Frankish Empire under the Carlovingians. 

(752—888.) 

1. Pepin the Short (752—768) 

82 governed the three united kingdoms of 1. Austrasia, which 
b comprehended Alemannia or Swabia, Bavaria, Thuringia, 
and a part of Friesland. 2. Neustria. 3. Burgundy with 
Provence and Septimania. War in Italy. —The Ducatus 
Romanus having been threatened by the Lombards, Pope 
Stephen III. (II.), after an ineffectual attempt to obtain 
support from the eastern emperor, implored the aid of 
Pepin, whom he a second time crowned and anointed at 
St. Denys, with his two sons Charles and Carloman. The 
Franks were required thenceforward to choose their kings 
from the male descendants of Pepin, whom the Pope raised 
to the dignity of a Roman patrician, conferring on him at 
the same time the title of Protector of the Church, and 
enjoining him to undertake a crusade against the Lom¬ 
bards, for the purpose of securing the Exarchate for the 
c Holy See. In obedience to these injunctions, Pepin in¬ 
vaded Italy, and after two campaigns compelled the Lom¬ 
bard king (Aistulf), to surrender the whole line of 
Adriatic coast (from Commachio to Ancona), which he 
presented to the Roman Pontiff. Wars with neighbouring 



FRANKISH EMPIRE. 


45 


83—85. § 20.] 

nations .—The Frieses, who had assassinated St. Boniface, (82) 
were again subdued; the Saxons (after two campaigns) com- a 
pelled to pay tribute; the Arabians (after the surrender of 
Narbonne) expelled from Southern Gaul, and Aquitania(after 
the death of Duke Waifar) re-united to the Frankish empire. 

2. Charlemagne (768 — 814), 

born in 742 (on the 2nd April ?), perhaps at Aachen, or Aix- 83 
la-Chapelle, during the three first years of his reign shared 
the throne with his brother Carloman,by whose sudden death, 
in 771, he became sole king of the Franks, to the exclusion 
of his two nephews, who fled with their mother to the Lom- 
bardic court. 

The wars of Charlemagne. 

a. Conquest of Lombardy , 774. In compliance with 84 
the wishes of his mother, Charlemagne had divorced his 
first wife, and married a daughter of Desiderius, king of 
the Lombards, whom he soon repudiated, and formed a third 
matrimonial alliance with Hildegarde, a daughter of the 
Duke of Swabia. Desiderius, indignant at this treatment, b 
supported the sons of Carloman in their claims to the Frank¬ 
ish throne, and on the refusal of the Pope (Hadrian I.) to 
crown them, took possession of the patrimony of St. Peter. 

On receiving intelligence of this outrage, Charlemagne 
invaded Italy, besieged Desiderius in Pavia, and entering 
Rome, confirmed the grant of Pepin to the Holy See, the 
possessions of which were now augmented by the addition 

of Spoleto. Desiderius was taken prisoner by Charle¬ 
magne, who caused himself to be proclaimed king of the 
Lombards (or of Italy), in the year 774. An attempt 
of the Langobardic nobles to reinstate Desiderius on the 
throne was frustrated by a second invasion of Italy. 

b. Wars with the Saxons , 772—804. The Saxon na- 85 
tion was divided into Westphalia between the Rhine and c 
Ems, Engern between the Ems and Weser, Eastphalia be¬ 
tween the Weser and Elbe, and Transalbingia beyond 
the Elbe. From the earliest times a feeling of hostility 
seems to have existed between the Saxon and Frankish 
races, and ever since the reign of Chlotar I., the Mero¬ 
vingians and their Saxon neighbours had been engaged 

in perpetual struggles, with no more important result than 
the subjugation of a few gaus by the Franks. With 




46 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[86. § 20. 

(85) equal obstinacy, the Saxons resisted the introduction of 
a Christianity into their country, putting the missionaries 
to death and demolishing the churches. At a diet held at 
Worms, in 772, it was resolved to attempt the subjugation 
and conversion of these obstinate unbelievers. In the first 
campaign, Charlemagne stormed the Eresburg (hod. Stadt- 
berg on the Diemel), and destroyed the Irminsul, a statue 
to which divine honours were paid, but which does not 
seem to have been dedicated exclusively to any one god. 
After his first Italian campaign (and a diet at Diiren, in 
775), Charlemagne marched against Wittekind and Alboin, 
who had invaded his kingdom at the head of a Saxon army, 
stormed their fortress of Sigiburg (at the confluence of the 
Ruhr and Lenne), and compelled them to give hostages. 
During his second campaign in Italy, and an expedition 
into Spain, the Saxons again advanced to Deutz on the 
b Rhine, but were driven back by Charlemagne, who sub¬ 
dued their country as far as the Elbe. Charlemagne now 
ventured to send detachments of Saxons with two Frankish 
armies against the Sorbes, who had invaded Thuringia, 
but his faithless allies turned their arms against their com- 
rades, an act of treachery which was punished by the 
execution of 4500 Saxons at Verden on the Aller. A 
general insurrection followed, and for three years the Saxons 
made head against their powerful enemy. At length, after 
two indecisive engagements (at Detmold and on the Hase), 
Wittekind and Alboin entered into negotiations with Char- 
c lemagne, and embraced Christianity with most of their 
followers. No sooner, however, was Charlemagne occu¬ 
pied with the Bavarians and Avares, than the Saxons again 
broke out into open rebellion. At last, alter eight cam¬ 
paigns (793—804), Charlemagne, with the assistance of 
the Obotrites (in the country now called Mecklenburg), 
after transplanting many of the Saxons into other countries, 
and conciliating several of their most influential nobles by 
grants of land, succeeded in persuading the people to ac¬ 
knowledge his authority, and embrace Christianity, without 
86 formally concluding a peace l . 
d 3. War in Spain {778^. At a diet held by Charlemagne 

1 There was no peace concluded at Selz, as has been generally 
supposed. 


87-90. § 20.] FRANKISH EMPIRE. 4/ 

at Paderborn, on his return from his third campaign against (86) 
the Saxons, a petition for assistance against the Emir a 
Abderrahman was presented to the king by the banished 
governor of Saragossa. Charlemagne immediately entered 
Spain, and subdued the whole of the country lying between 
the Pyrenees and the Ebro, which was annexed, under the 
name of the Spanish March, to the Frankish empire, 
but, even during the lifetime of Charlemagne, was fre¬ 
quently lost and recovered. On the homeward march, his 
army was attacked by the mountaineers of Gascony, and 
well-nigh annihilated in the pass of Roncesvalles (where 
the renowned Roland lost his life). 

4. War with the Avars ( 788—801). Duke Tassilo of 87 
Bavaria, who had several times violated his oath of alle- b 
giance to Charlemagne, at the instigation of his wife (a 
daughter of Desiderius, king of Lombardy), and been 
overthrown after a short campaign in 787, again raised the 
standard of rebellion in conjunction with the Avars, but 
was a second time defeated, taken prisoner, and confined in 

a monastery. His dukedom was incorporated into the 
Frankish empire. Charlemagne then attacked the Avars 
in their own country, which he ravaged as far as the Raab; 
and, at a later period, his son Pepin was sent to subdue the 
whole of the territory from the Ems to the Raab, which 
was now denominated the Avaric March. 

5. A war was carried on by his son Charles against the 88 
Danes and Wilzes, who had attacked Charlemagne’s c 
allies, the Obotrites. After the murder of their king 
Gottfried, the Danes concluded a peace (810), by which 
the Eider was recognized as the boundary between 
their country and that of the Franks. The Wilzes were 
soon afterwards entirely subdued. 

In order to secure the frontiers of his empire, which 89 
now extended from the Ebro to the Raab, and from Bene- 
vento to the Eider, Charlemagne established, especially in 
the east, Margravates (Friuli, the Spanish, Avaric, and 
Danish Marches, &c.) 

Restoration of the Western Roman Empire 90 
(800). Pope Leo III., having been shamefully ill-treated d 
by the opposite party during a solemn procession, ap¬ 
peared before the diet at Paderborn, and induced Char¬ 
lemagne (who had already assumed the office of protector 


48 THE MIDDLE AGES. [91. § 20 

(90) of the Church, in his character of Roman Patrician), 
a to visit Rome and chastise the offenders. In return for 
the assistance thus afforded, Charlemagne on Christmas- 
day in the year 800, received from the Pope the title 
of «Roman Emperor, and immediately required from 
his subjects an oath not merely of fidelity, but of unquali¬ 
fied submission to his commands. The new relation be¬ 
tween the Emperor and Pope was not that of a vassal to 
his feudal lord, but rather the co-existence of two su¬ 
preme authorities, the spiritual being exercised by 
b the Pope and the temporal by the Emperor. This supre¬ 
macy was mutually recognized; the Pope, as restorer of 
the western empire, enjoying the privilege of placing the 
imperial crown on the head of the Emperor, to whom he 
administered an oath of allegiance to the Holy See ; whilst, 
on the other hand, no election of a Pope was valid unless 
approved and confirmed by the Emperor. Both parties 
pledged themselves to act in concert, and support one 
another on all occasions. 

Charlemagne’s administration. 

91 a. Ecclesiastical and educational establishments. For 

m 

c the confirmation of the Saxons in their profession of Chris¬ 
tianity, Charlemagne founded eight bishoprics in that 
country (Osnabriick and Munster for theWestphalians, Min- 
den and Paderborn for the Engernians ; Bremen, Verden, 
and Hildesheim for the Eastphalians, and Halberstadt for 
the Thuringians). To each of these cathedrals, as well 
as to the monasteries, were annexed schools for instruc¬ 
tion in the seven liberal arts (see § 14. IV.). In the 
establishment of these seminaries, Charlemagne was as¬ 
sisted by his own tutor, the Anglo-Saxon monk, Alcuin. 
D At the same time measures were adopted for restoring the 
respectability of the clergy, by procuring for them a more 
liberal education, introducing among them the canonical 
life (a chapter of canons being attached to each cathedral), 
prohibiting war and the chase, exempting them from the 
jurisdiction of the civil courts, and appointing them to the 
most important offices of state. His subjects were also 
required to pay tithes to the Church. The affection of 
Charlemagne for his mother-tongue induced him to give 
German names to the months ; to compile, with the assist¬ 
ance of Alcuin, a grammar of the Frankish language, and 


FRANKISH EMPIRE. 


92—94. § 20.] 


49 


to publish a collection of old German heroic ballads. For (91) 
the improvement of church music, professors of singing a 
were invited from Rome by the advice of Alcuin. 

b. Legislation. Codes of laws in the Latin language 92 
were given to those nations (the Frieses, Saxons, .and 
Thuringians) which possessed no written statutes ; whilst, 

at the same time, the ancient “ leges ” of the other tribes 
(see § 14, 2. c.), especially the lex Salica, were enlarged 
by the addition of Capitularies, which were enacted at the 
diet, and thenceforth became the law, not merely of those 
tribes, but of the empire in general. To facilitate the 
execution of the laws, the right of asylum possessed by 
churches was considerably restricted. 

c. The Constitution, in all essential particulars, remained 93 
the same as it had been under the Merovingians; the only b 
changes introduced being such as were rendered necessary 
by the progress of civilization. The feudal system was 
more fully developed ; but, in spite of the opposition of 
Charlemagne, many of the fiefs became hereditary allodes. 

The division of estates into gaus, under the presidence of a 
count, who possessed the right of administering justice and 
calling out the army, was still retained ; and the officers of 
the court were the same as before, with the exception of 
the Majordomat, which was now merged in the royal 
dignity. These officers resided at the court of Aachen c 
[Aix-la-Chapelle], or at Ingelheim, and accompanied the 
emperor on his yearly progress through his dominions. 

The Archchaplain (Apocrisiarius) acted as the sovereign’s 
vicegerent in spiritual matters, and the Comes Palatii in 
temporal. 

Besides the “ field of May,” or general review of the 94 
army, at which all males capable of bearing arms were 
present, Charlemagne held a second diet in the autumn, 
which was attended by the spiritual and temporal dignita¬ 
ries of the empire. At this diet, which assembled alter- d 
nately at Worms, Aachen, Diiren, Paderborn, &c., questions 
of inferior moment were determined summarily, the more im¬ 
portant being reserved for discussion at the next field of May. 

For the purpose of obtaining a more accurate knowledge of 
each province, Charlemagne every year sent into certain 
districts (legationes or missatica, each of which comprised 
several counties or dioceses) imperial commissioners (missi 

D 


50 THE MIDDLE AGES. [95. § 20. 

( 94 ) dominici), one of whom belonged to the highest rank of 
a spiritual, and the other of temporal, nobility. The duty of 
these commissioners was to hold visitations (placita), at 
which the assembled ecclesiastics and nobility of the dis¬ 
trict were required to render an account of the different 
branches of administration. They were also empowered to 
settle disputes, inspect the imperial demesnes, inquire into 
the condition of the churches and monasteries, and the 
lives of the clergy, and prepare a list of male persons 
capable of bearing arms. Every freeholder who possessed 
three (afterwards four) mansi, or homesteads, was required 
b to serve for three months in the army. Those who pos¬ 
sessed less than the above qualification were allowed to 
club together and arm one of their number. The militia 
of each province was commanded by a duke. A fine 
of sixty solidi was imposed on all who neglected to 
appear in arms at the place of rendezvous, and those who 
were unable to pay this penalty were sent to work it out 
on the imperial farms. Spiritual persons w ? ere exempt 
from military service, but were required to arm their able- 
bodied vassals. The punishment of death continued to be 
c inflicted on deserters. It was forbidden to carry weapons 
in time of peace. The imperial revenues were derived 
from the following sources : aa , the (163) crown demesnes ; 
bb, presents from his subjects in the month of May; 
cc, duties ; dd, land and poll taxes ; ee, tributes of depen¬ 
dent nations. 

95 For the encouragement of commerce, which had been 
severely crippled by his numerous wars, Charlemagne esta¬ 
blished depots, opened annual markets, improved the high¬ 
ways, and diminished the imposts. 

After the conclusion of his war with the Saxons, the 
emperor divided his dominions among his three sons, 
Charles, Pepin, and Lewis, of whom only the youngest 
j) survived him. At a diet held at Aachen in 813, Lewis 
was proclaimed his successor in the imperial and royal 
dignities, and received the crown from the hands of his 
father. Pepin’s illegitimate son Bernard w'as permitted to 
hold the kingdom of Italy as a fief from his uncle. On the 
28th January in the following year Clarlemagne died at 
Aachen, and was buried in the cathedral of that city, which 
lie himself had founded. 


96, 97. § 20.] 


FRANKISH EMPIRE. 


51 


3. Lewis the Pious (814—840). 

Lewis, whose benevolence, love of justice, and piety 96 
were, in a great measure, neutralized by his weakness of a 
purpose and ignorance of human nature, promulgated, at a 
diet at Aachen, a number of new regulations for the govern¬ 
ment of spiritual persons, monks, and nuns. In the year 
817 an imperial edict was issued, dividing the empire 
among his three sons, Lothar [Lothaire], Pepin, and Lewis. 
Lothar was raised to the imperial throne as the colleague of 
his father ; Pepin received Aquitania ; and Lewis, Bavaria. 
Bernard of Italy was deprived of his sight for conspiring 
against his uncle, and soon afterwards died. The crown of 
Italy was then placed on the head of Lothar. 

Soon afterwards the emperor married a second wife 97 
(Judith, daughter of Count Welf), by whom he had b 
Charles the Bald. The settlement of Alemannia, Alsace, 
and a part of Burgundy on this son, excited the envy of 
his brothers, who entered into a conspiracy against their 
father, which was followed up (after the compulsory ces¬ 
sion of Aquitania by Pepin to Charles) by a declaration 
of war. Lewis was taken prisoner in an engagement on 
the plain of Colmar (called from the treachery of his 
nobles the “ perjurers’ field”), deprived of his crown, and 
compelled to do penance in a monastery at Soissons. But 
the arrogance of Lothar soon disgusted his brothers, who 
replaced their father on the throne. The sons of Pepin c 
(who died before his father) were excluded from the suc¬ 
cession, and the dominions of Lewis divided (by the advice 
of his wife) among his surviving children ; Charles the Bald 
receiving the western portion as far as the Maas (Meuse), 
Saone, and Rhone ; Lothar the eastern; and Lewis only 
Bavaria. 


Pepin of Heristal + 714. 

i-——■ A> -i 

Charles Martel + 741 


52 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[97. § 20. 


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98—103. § 20.] 


FRANKISH EMPIRE. 


53 


The successors of Lewis the Pious to 887. 

Immediately after the death of Lewis, a quarrel arose 98 
among his sons, in consequence of an attempt on the part a 
of Lothar, as emperor, to exclude his brothers from all par¬ 
ticipation in the government. A battle was fought in 841, 
near the village of Fontenay (Fontenaille), in Burgundy, 
in which Lothar was defeated. The war, however, con¬ 
tinued until 843, when Lothar found himself compelled to 
conclude with his brothers the famous Treaty of Ver¬ 
dun, by which 

Lewis (surnamed the German) received all the Frankish 99 
territory on the right bank of the Rhine (with the excep¬ 
tion of Friesland), together with Spiers, Worms, and 
Mainz. 

Charles the Bald had all the western provinces as far 100 
as the Scheld, Maas, Saone, and Rhone. b 

Lothar had the territory eastward of those rivers to the 101 
Alps and the Rhine, with the exception of three cities. 

The southern portion of this strip of land was called Bur¬ 
gundy, and the northern Lorraine (Lotharii regnum). Italy 
and Friesland were also settled on him. 

The three new kingdoms were soon disquieted by intes- 102 
tine commotions, the quarrels of their sovereigns with one 
another, and perpetual contests with a wild piratical race 
called the Normans, or Northmen, who availed them¬ 
selves of the distracted condition of the empire to make 
descents on the coasts, especially of western France. Sail- c 
ing in their light galleys up the Loire, Garonne, and Rhone, 
they sacked the cities of Rouen, Paris, &c., ravaged the 
country, and overthrew the armies of Charles the Bald. 
Italy was also visited by these marauders, as well as by the 
Arabian pirates. In Germany, the Normans sailed up the 
Elbe, and burnt the city of Hamburg, but were beaten back 
by Lewis. During the whole period of this prince’s reign, 
the eastern frontier of his kingdom was the scene of per¬ 
petual struggles with Sclavonic tribes, particularly with the 
Bohemians and Moravians. 

The Emperor Lothar I. at his death, in 855, had divided 103 
his kingdom among his three sons; the youngest of whom, d 
C harles, died in 863, leaving his portion to be equally 
distributed between his surviving brothers, the Emperor 

d 3 


54 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [104—109. § 20. 

(103) Lewis II. and Lothar II. After the death of this Lothar, 
a his kingdom of Lorraine was seized by his uncles, Lewis 
the German and Charles the Bald. 

104 Lewis II. having died without male issue, in 875, Charles 
the Bald anticipating his elder brother, Lewis the German, 
hastened into Italy, where he was crowned king of that 
country and Roman emperor. On the death of Lewis the 
German, in the following year (876), his kingdom w r as 
divided among his three sons; the youngest of whom, 
Charles the Fat, became sole occupant of the throne 

b after the decease of both his brothers. As none of the 
descendants of Charles the Bald survived, after the death 
of his son Lewis the Stammerer (877—879), and tw T o elder 
grandsons, with the exception of an infant named Charles 
the Simple, little difficulty was experienced by Charles 
the Fat in reuniting the whole Frankish monarchy 
(885—887), with the exception of the Spanish March, the 
dukedom of Carinthia, and the cisjuranic kingdom of Bur¬ 
gundy (separated in 879), the crown of which had been 
conferred by the estates on Count Boso (of Vienne), 
brother-in-law of Charles the Bald. The power of Charles, 
however, was insufficient either to repress the intestine 
disturbances of his kingdom, or make head against the 
c Normans, who burnt Cologne, Bonn, and Treves. His 
pusillanimity in consenting to pay tribute, and abandoning 
Burgundy to the Normans, so displeased his subjects, that 
at a diet held at Tribur, in 887, he was set aside, and died 
in the beginning of the following year. The Frankish 
empire was then broken up into five portions, viz. :— 

105 1. The western Frankish empire w^as assigned to 
Count Otlio of Paris, brother-in-law of Lewis the Stam¬ 
merer. 

106 2. Germany to Arnulf, Duke of Carinthia, a natural 
d son of Carloman, and grandson of Lew'is the German. 

107 3 and 4. Burgundy w r as divided into transjuranic 
and cisjuranic; the former founded by Rudolf Welf, pre¬ 
viously Duke of the West Franks; the latter governed, 
since 879, by Boso, son-in-law r of the Emperor Lewis II. 

108 5. In Italy, the sovereignty was disputed between 
Guido of Spoleto, and Berengar, Margrave of Friuli. 

109 Domestic History (814—887). Under the feeble 
successors of Charlemagne, there arose a temporal and 


FRANKISH EMPIRE. 


55 


109. § 20.] 

ecclesiastical aristocracy, whose influence increased (109) 
in proportion to the decline of the imperial authority, and a 
the subjugation of the common freeholders, most of whom 
were compelled by violence and oppression to hold their 
estates as fiefs from the nobility and clergy. These usur¬ 
pations were facilitated by the practice, which daily became 
more general, of making fiefs hereditary, and by the right 
which the nobles had gradually acquired of electing their 
own sovereign on the extinction of a dynasty, as well as 
by the suppression of the royal commissioners. Instead of b 
offering any effectual opposition to these encroachments, 
the kings were only too happy, amidst partitions of the 
empire, intestine disputes, and foreign wars, to conciliate 
the favour of the nobles by the most unlimited concessions. 
Among other instances of weakness, it may be mentioned, 
that Charles the Bald granted to the West Frankish nobility 
the right of resisting with the strong hand the introduction 
of any measure which they might consider unjust. The 
dukedoms which had been suppressed by Charlemagne 
were now restored, especially in those provinces which 
were threatened with foreign invasion, where the authority 
of the king was inadequate to the maintenance of peace : in 
Thuringia, for instance, against the Sorbes, and in Saxony 
against the Normans, in the reign of Lewis the German. 

The influence of the clergy over all classes became daily c 
more confirmed, as the institutions of the Church developed 
themselves; and men discovered that the ecclesiastical body 
enjoyed exclusive possession of the learning of those days. 

The so-called decretals of St. Isidore did not, it is true, 
establish a power which existed in its fullest extent before 
their publication, but they served, by authoritatively pro¬ 
claiming the actual supremacy of the Church, to consolidate 
and uphold her claims to universal dominion \ 


f 1 About the year 867, a German deacon, named Benedictus Levita, 
published a collection of ecclesiastical statutes,or “decretals,” in which 
the supremacy of the Pope over general councils, and his right of 
appointing bishops and settling all ecclesiastical controversies, were 
distinctly asserted. As it was important to assign to these decretals 
a date antecedent to the empire, Benedict pretended that they were 
the production of St. Isidore, a Spaniard who flourished in the 
seventh century. Their genuineness was asserted by Pope Nicho¬ 
las I., who made them the groundwork of the papal claims to 

D 4 



56 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [110-112. § 21,22. 


§ 21. The East Frankish empire under the two last 
Carlovingians (887—911). 

HO !• Arnulf (887—899) compelled Guido and the two 
A kings of Burgundy to acknowledge him as their feudal 
lord, and thus re-united Italy and Burgundy, as fiefs, to 
the German empire. The utter defeat of the Normans 
(891) served to raise the military reputation of Arnulf, 
but not to scare them from their acts of piracy, in 
which they were encouraged by the knowledge that the 
Moravians (who, since the fall of the Avaric monarchy, had 
advanced as far as Hungary) were now, under their leader 
Zw r entibold, menacing the eastern frontier of Germany. 
b By the aid of the Magyars, or Hungarians (who had 
proceeded up the Danube after their expulsion from their 
settlements on the Ural mountains by the Petschenegers), 
the Moravians were compelled to evacuate their country 
(from the Gran to the Morawa), which w ? as soon afterwards 
occupied by the Magyars. Arnulf w^as crowned emperor, 
but w'as unable to settle the disputes of the different can¬ 
didates for the crown of Italy. 

111 2. Lewis the Child (900—911). During the regency 
c of Archbishop Hatto of Mainz, and Duke Otho of Saxony 

(guardians of Lewds), the nobles had many opportunities 
of consolidating their power. In Bavaria and Alemannia 
national dukedoms w r ere established for the protection of 
those countries against the marauding incursions of the 
Hungarians, who, since the overthrow of the Moravian 
empire, had almost every year invaded Carinthia and 
Bavaria, and, after the defeat of Lewis’s army, had ravaged 
Alemannia, Thuringia, and Saxony. The ducal dignity 
w^as also re-established about this time in Lorraine and 
Franconia; so that, at the termination of the Carlovingian 
dynasty, there were no less than six national dukes in 
Germany. 

§ 22. Empire of the East Franks under Conrad /. of 

Franconia (911—918). 

112 After the extinction of the Carlovingian race, an attempt 

universal supremacy.— Wolfiana Menzels Geschichte der Deutschen ; 
Capitel 137.] 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


113. § 23.] 


O i 


was made by the nations in the south of Germany (the (112) 
Alemanni and Bavarians) to establish independent king- A 
doms. On the other hand, the Eastern Franks and Saxons 
proceeded to the election of an emperor, and chose Otho 
the Illustrious, duke of Saxony; but that prince having 
refused the crown on account of his advanced age, a second 
election took place, and the East Frankish Duke Conrad 
was chosen on his recommendation, the Alemanni and 
Bavarians acquiescing in the choice. Lorraine, on the 
other hand, became a province of the West Frankish em¬ 
pire. During the whole of his reign, Conrad was occupied b 
in fruitless attempts to render the vassals, especially the 
dukes, subject to his authority; the provinces being left in 
the mean time to defend themselves, as best they might, 
against repeated invasions of the Normans. Lorraine con¬ 
tinued to be a dependency of the West Frankish empire. 

The Duke of Bavaria, after sustaining a defeat, went over 
to the Hungarians, hoping with their assistance to maintain 
his independence. Henry, son of Otho the Illustrious, 
not only held possession of all his father’s fiefs, but even 
established his right to the independent duchies of Saxony 
and Thuringia. On his deathbed Conrad recommended c 
Henry as his successor. There were now four German 
dukedoms, viz., Eastern Franconia, Saxony, Swabia, and 
Bavaria. 


§ 23. The German empire under Kings of the house of 
Saxony (919—1024). 

1. Henry I., surnamed the Fowler (919 — 936), 113 
quickly carried into effect the plans of his predecessor, 
subduing the Duke of Alemannia, who had availed him¬ 
self of the change of sovereigns to declare his country 
independent, as well as the Duke of Bavaria (who had 
returned from Hungary), and re-uniting Lorraine to the 
empire. An armistice for nine years was granted by the d 
Hungarians in return for the restoration to liberty of 
one of their princes, who had been taken prisoner in 
Hungary, the Germans engaging to pay an annual tribute 
during the whole of that period. This breathing time 
was employed by Henry in placing the army on a more 
efficient footing, building strongholds (Merseburg, Meissen, 
Quedlinburg, Nordhausen, Goslar—hence his surname of 

d 5 4— 


58 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[114. § 23. 

(113) the “ City-builder”), establishing an order of knighthood, 
a and restoring the military games (the origin of tourna¬ 
ments). At the same time the army was exercised in 
warfare: 1. Against the Sclavonians from the Elbe to the 
Baltic. The conquest of these tribes enabled him to ex¬ 
tend the boundaries of the empire from the Elbe to the 
Middle Oder. 2. Against the Normans, who were com¬ 
pelled to evacuate their territory from the Eider to Schles¬ 
wig. Three Margravates w r ere established for the defence 
of the frontiers, viz.: a. North Saxony, against the Wilzes; 
b. Meissen, against the Sclavonians; c. Schleswig, against 
b the Normans. Having completed his preparations, Henry 
refused the further payment of tribute, and when the Hun¬ 
garians invaded Thuringia, overthrew them at Merseburg, 
in the year 933. He was succeeded by his second son, 

2. Otho E (surnamed the Great), 

114 the first king elected by the common suffrages of the five 
principal nations. From this time the ceremony of coro¬ 
nation was always performed at Aachen [Aix-la-Chapelle]. 
The first years of his reign were passed in disputes with the 
Dukes of Bohemia, Bavaria, Franconia, and Lorraine, who 
had formed a confederacy with Otho’s discontented brothers 
Tankmar and Henry, and even with Lewis IV., king of 
c France. After the termination of this contest, an attempt 
was made by Otho to diminish the influence of the dukes 
by the establishment in each province of a Count Palatine, 
or imperial lieutenant; his own authority being at the same 
time strengthened by the elevation of four of his relations 
to the dukedom. His friend Herman Billing was invested 
with Otho’s own dukedom of Saxony, in return for his 
services in putting an end to the Bohemian war. The 
d feudal supremacy of the emperor over the united (since 
933) kingdoms of Burgundy, which had been in abeyance 
since the death of Arnulf, was re-established; and in the year 
933 Lorraine was divided into two dukedoms, viz., Upper 
Lorraine on the Moselle, and Lower Lorraine on the Maas 
[Meuse] and the sea-coast. The same care was bestowed 
by Otho on ecclesiastical affairs and the establishment of 
schools, as on the improvement of the constitution: laws 
were enacted against simony, the privileges of the Church 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


59 


115 . § 23 .] 

augmented, and bishoprics established, especially in the (114) 
Sclavonic countries, Brandenburg and Havelberg. 

Foreign Wars. 1 . The Danes, who had invaded and laid 115 
waste the Margravate of Schleswig (founded by Henry I.), a 
were compelled (after a single campaign, in which Otho 
advanced into Jutland as far as Ottesund) to recognize the 
feudal supremacy of Germany, and embrace Christianity. 

2. The Duke of Bohemia (Boleslav), who had a second 
time thrown off his allegiance, submitted to Otho, became 
a Christian, and founded the bishopric of Prague. 3. First 
Italian campaign. Italy had been severed from Germany 
since the days of Arnulf. Lothar, king of that country, 
having been assassinated by Berengar II. (Margrave of 
Ivrea), an appeal was made by Adelaide, widow of the mur¬ 
dered man, to Otho, who entered Italy, and having liberated 
and married the queen, was crowned king of the Lombards at 
Pavia, and soon afterwards (at Augsburg) invested Berengar 
with the sovereignty of Italy as a fief of Germany. 4. The b 
Hungarians , who had entered Bavaria with an army of 
100,000 men, were totally defeated on the plain of the 
Lech, and never again appeared in Germany. The Chris¬ 
tian religion was soon afterwards generally received among 
them. 5. A victory over the Wendish Sclavonians was 
followed by the recognition, on the part of the Duke of 
Poland, of the feudal supremacy of the German empire, as 
well as by the subjugation and conversion of all the Scla- 
vonian tribes as far as the Vistula. 0. Second Italian 
campaign. The complaints of Berengar’s tyranny, which 
reached Otho from all quarters, induced him to send his 
son Ludolf into Italy, and after his death to visit that 
country in person. Having deposed Berengar, and assumed c 
the iron crown at Milan, Otho proceeded to Rome, where 
he revived the title of Emperor of the West, 
which, from that time (962), until the period of its extinction 
in 1806, was always borne by the German kings. After 
quelling repeated disturbances, and obtaining from the 
Romans a promise that no Pope should be chosen without 
his consent, Otho returned to Germany, where he endea¬ 
voured to improve the condition of his cities by encou¬ 
raging trade and manufactures, and especially by the 
establishment of markets. 7. In a third Italian campaign 
he wrested from the Greeks their possessions in Lower 

d 6 


60 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [116 - 118 . § 23 . 

(115) Italy, with the exception of Benevento and Capua, which 
a were ceded to him by treaty; the hand of the Greek princess 
Theophania being at the same time bestowed on his son 
Otho, who had already been crowned king and emperor. 

3. Otho II. (973—983). 

116 A war with France (during which King Lothar surprised 
Otho II. in Aachen, but was driven back as far as Paris) 
was terminated by Lothar’s consenting to hold Lorraine as 
a fief of the empire. The refusal of the Greeks to give up 
certain lands in Apulia and Calabria, which he claimed as 
the dowry of his w-ife, furnished Otho with an excuse for 
entering Lower Italy, where he w r as defeated, near Basan- 
tello, by the forces of the Greeks, assisted by the Arabians, 
whom they had summoned from Sicily for that purpose. 

b He died at Rome, in the midst of his preparations for a 
fresh campaign, and was succeeded by his son 

4. Otho III. (983—1002), 

117 a child of three years old, under the guardianship of his 
mother Theophania, and, after her death, of his grandmother 
Adelaide and his aunt the Abbess Matilda. Carinthia was 
separated from Bavaria, and erected into a seventh duchy. 
An attempt having been made by a party at Rome, headed 
by the Consul Crescentius, to emancipate themselves from 
the German yoke, Otho three times visited that city, and, 
after restoring tranquillity, assumed the imperial crowm, 
and raised a nominee of his own to the papal chair, but, 
happily for Germany, was unable to carry out his favourite 
plan of making Rome the capital of the German empire. 

c A separate election of each province placed on the throne 
as his successor a great-grandson of Henry I., 

5. Henry II. (surnamed the Saint) (1002—1024), 

118 the first king wdio w^as required, as the condition of his 
election, to guarantee to each nation all the privileges which 
had been at any time enjoyed by the people. During the 
absence of Henry in Germany, where he was detained by 
the intrigues of his enemies, an attempt was made by some 
of the provinces to throw off the German yoke. Harduin, 
Margrave of Ivrea, caused himself to be proclaimed king 
of Italy, whilst at the same time Duke Boleslav, of Poland, 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


61 


119 , 120 . § 24 .] 

overran Bohemia and Moravia, and formed an alliance with (118) 
the discontented German princes. After defeating Har- a 
duin, and assuming the crown of Italy (at Pavia), Henry 
compelled Boleslav to evacuate Bohemia, and recognize 
him as his liege lord (probably only with reference to the 
provinces of Lusatia and Silesia). During a second visit 
to Italy, occasioned by a fresh attempt on the part of 
Harduin to obtain possession of that country, Henry was 
solemnly crowned emperor; and soon afterwards the death 
of Harduin terminated for ever the contests between the 
native and German princes for the possession of the Italian 
crown. A third Italian campaign was signalized by the b 
defeat of the Greeks, and the establishment in Apulia of the 
Norman allies, to whose co-operation Henry w r as in some 
measure indebted for his victory. 

§ 24. The German empire under the Franconian emperors 

(1024—1125). 

1. Conrad II. (1024—1039) 

was chosen at Mainz by the unanimous suffrages of the \IQ 
eight German dukes, and crowned at Aachen, Milan, and 
Rome. The first act of his reign was to confirm the Nor¬ 
mans in their settlements in Lower Italy. After the decease 
of Rudolph III., king of Burgundy, who died without issue, 
that country was added, as a lapsed fief, to the German 
empire, and at the same time the supremacy of Germany 
over Poland and Bohemia was re-established. On the c 
other hand, the March of Schleswig, which was no longer 
of any value as a barrier against the Normans, was ceded 
by Conrad to Canute, the king of Denmark, Norway, and 
England : and thus the Eider became again the northern 
boundary of the German empire. During his second visit 
to Italy, Conrad passed a law by which the smaller fiefs 
were made hereditary both in Germany and Italy. His 
family influence was extended by the nomination of four 
members of the royal house to the vacant dukedoms of 
Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, and Carinthia. 

2. Henry III. (1039—1056). 

The first act of Henry’s administration w'as to consoli- 120 
date the family influence of which his father had laid d 
the foundation. By retaining the dukedoms of Bavaria 
and Swabia, which he had held before his elevation to the 


62 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 121 . § 24 . 

(120) throne, and allowing those of Carinthia and Franconia to 
a remain vacant, he established the imperial authority, with¬ 
out the intervention of any secondary power, over the w r hole 
of Southern Germany, as well as Italy and Burgundy. At 
the same time Bretislav, duke of Bohemia, who had in¬ 
vaded Poland, was reduced to submission, and the feudal 
sovereignty over Hungary insured for a season (1045— 
1063) by the restoration of Peter, the exiled sovereign of 
that country. At this period the German empire com¬ 
prised three kingdoms (Italy, Burgundy, and Hungary); 
six German dukedoms (Alemannia, Bavaria, Franconia, 
Saxony, Upper and Lower Lorraine); and three Sclavo- 
b nian (Bohemia w'ith Moravia, Poland, and Carinthia). For 
the better maintenance of peace in Alemannia, Bavaria, and 
Carinthia, dukes were re-established in those countries, but 
the dignity was never conferred on a native, and its pos¬ 
sessor w r as entirely dependent on the imperial crown. 
Franconia was already considered the hereditary property 
of the royal house. Introduction into Germany of the 
“ Truce of God ” (treuga Dei), by which all quarrels were 
suspended from Wednesday evening to Monday morning, 
as well as during the seasons of Lent and Advent. 

121 Henry’s next project was the reformation of the 
Church, especially in Germany, with reference especially 
to its two most glaring abuses,—simony, or the sale of 
benefices, and tbe immoral lives of the clergy. As it was 
desirable that these reforms should emanate from the pope 
himself, Henry endeavoured to re-establish unity in the 
Church, by setting aside three rival pontiffs, and raising a 
c German (Clement II.) to the papal throne. In return for 
these services the new pope placed the imperial crown on the 
head of Henry, and entered into a solemn engagement that 
thenceforth no election of a pope should be considered 
valid unless confirmed by the emperor. Stringent laws 
against the luxury of the clergy, and against simony, were 
enacted by Henry and four popes, who were successively 
elevated by him to the throne of St. Peter; whilst, on the 
other hand, all his plans for subjecting the Church to the 
temporal power were cautiously but effectually resisted by 
d the papal chancellor, Hildebrand. The Normans w ere con¬ 
firmed by Henry in the possession of their conquests in 
Apulia and Calabria, which they were afterwards content to 
hold as vassals of the see of Rome. 


122 , 123 . § 24 .] 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


63 


3. Henry IV. (1056—1106), 
a child of six years old, succeeded his father, under the 122 
guardianship of his mother the empress Agnes. The ad- a 
ministration of the kingdom, which had been usurped by 
Hanno, archbishop of Cologne, who had secured the person 
of the young king, was wrested from his grasp by Adalbert, 
archbishop of Bremen, whose insolence at last so irritated 
the nobles of Germany, that, at a diet held at Tribur, they 
offered Henry the choice either of renouncing his favourite 
or resigning the crown. Adalbert was banished in conse¬ 
quence of these threats, but at the end of three years he re¬ 
appeared at the imperial court, and endeavoured to annihilate 
the party of his opponents. Otho, duke of Bavaria, was b 
falsely accused of high treason and deprived of his dukedom 
(which was conferred on his son-in-law Welf [Guelph], 
founder of the junior Welfic [Guelphic] line; and his ally 
Magnus, son of the Duke of Saxony, was thrown into prison. 
After the death of Adalbert in 1072, Hanno again resumed 
the reins, which the infirmities of old age compelled him to 
resign at the end of a year. Being now left to himself and c 
his own evil passions, Henry committed the most capricious 
excesses, conferring dukedoms and bishoprics on his un¬ 
worthy favourites, and endeavouring to render Saxony 
immediately subject to the imperial crown. With this view 
fortresses were built, and garrisons distributed over the 
whole country; and Magnus, who had been elected duke on 
the death of his father, was still detained a prisoner. 

War with the Saxons (1073—1075). 

The oppressive administration of the king, the insolence 123 
with which he treated the assembled nobles of Saxony, and d 
the lawless proceedings of the royal garrisons, so irritated the 
Saxons, that an insurrection at length broke out, and 60,000 
men appeared before Goslar, where Henry was at that time 
residing. In the extremity of his terror Henry fled to Harz- 
burg, and thence to Worms, where he was received with every 
mark of respect by the citizens, notwithstanding the oppo¬ 
sition of their bishop. A peace was concluded at Gerstungen, 
the chief condition of which was, that all Henry’s fortresses 
in Saxony should be levelled with the ground. This peace 
the princes of Upper Germany and the Rhineland refused to 
ratify; and Henry in consequence again took the field, and 
overthrew the Saxons at Hohenburg on the Unstrut. 


64 THE MIDDLE AGES. [1*24. §24. 

Contest between Gregory VII. and the princes 
of Germany (1073—1085). 

124 As archdeacon and chancellor of five successive popes, 
a Hildebrand had been gradually preparing the way for the 
development of his mighty project of rendering the Church 
independent of the State , and using the authority thus acquired 
for the improvement and reformation of the Church itself 
o With this view he had, as early as the year 1059, persuaded a 
council held in the church of St. John Lateran, to pass a reso¬ 
lution that thenceforth the pope should be elected by a college 
of cardinals, and accepted by the rest of the clergy and the 
Roman people; the emperor’s rightof confirming their choice 
being conferred on him, after each election, by the pope him¬ 
self. As the most effectual mode of carrying this decree into 
effect, the pope conferred the title of Duke on the Norman 
prince Robert Guiscard, together with the fiefs of Apulia and 
Calabria, and invested him, by anticipation, with the sove- 
c reignty of the still unconquered island of Sicily. In return 
for these benefits, Guiscard solemnly pledged himself to 
secure freedom of election to the college of cardinals. In 
the year 1073 Hildebrand himself became pope, and by way 
of protest against the illegal removal of Gregory VI. by the 
Emperor Henry III. assumed the title of Gregory VII. In 
order fully to establish the independence of the clergy, Gre¬ 
gory renewed the laws against the marriage of spiritual 
persons and against simony, forbidding bishops and abbots to 
receive investiture (i.e. the ring and staff, which were in 
most instances purchased simoniacally) from the hands of 
d temporal sovereigns. Henry, who still continued this practice 
in defiance of the pope’s prohibition, was summoned to plead 
before a synod at Rome; but, instead of obeying the mandate, 
he immediately assembled (at Worms, in 1076) a council of 
German and Lombard bishops, who deposed Gregory from 
the popedom. On receiving intelligence of this bold pro¬ 
ceeding, Gregory pronounced sentence of excommunication 
against the emperor, and absolved all his subjects from their 

1 [“ The object of Gregory VII. in attempting to redress those more 
flagrant abuses which for two centuries had deformed the face of the 
Latin Church, is not incapable, perhaps, of vindication, though no 
sufficient apology can be offered for the means he employed. But the 
disinterested love of reformation, to which candour might ascribe the 
condition against investitures, is belied by the general tenor of his con¬ 
duct, exhibiting an arrogance without parallel, and an ambition that 
graspedat universal and unlimited monarchy/’— Hallam,xo\. ii. p. 270. ] 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


125 . § 24 .] 


65 


oath of allegiance. An attempt was now made by Henry (124) 
to plate Pope Gregory under the ban of the empire ; but a a 
meeting of German princes at Tribur, for the purpose of 
electing a new emperor, so alarmed him, that he crossed 
the Alps in the winter of 1077, and, after three days of 
humiliation in the castle of Canossa, obtained from Gregory 
the reversal of the sentence of excommunication ; he, on his 
part, engaging to exercise none of the functions of royalty, 
until a diet of the empire should decide whether he might 
continue to wear the crown of Germany or not. During b 
H enry’s absence the nobles had chosen in his room Duke 
Rudolph of Swabia, who pledged himself not to inter¬ 
fere in the election of bishops, and agreed that thenceforward 
the king’s son should succeed to the throne only in virtue 
of his election, and not by hereditary right. After two in¬ 
decisive engagements (at Melrichstadt near Fulda, and 
Flarcheim near Miihlhausen) between Rudolph and Henry, 
the latter was again excommunicated by the pope, and in 
return deposed Gregory, and placed the Archbishop of 
Ravenna (Clement III.) on the papal throne. In a third 
battle (on the Elster), Rudolph was mortally wounded by 
Duke Godfrey of Bouillon. Henry now left the prosecu- c 
tion of the war in Germany to Frederic of Hohenstaufen 
(on whom he had conferred the dukedom of Swabia, void 
by the elevation of Rudolph to the throne), and marching 
into Italy, took Rome after a siege of three years, and re¬ 
ceived the imperial crown from the hands of Clement III. 
Gregory, w ho had taken refuge in the castle of St. Angelo, 
was released by Robert Guiscard, and immediately fled to 
Monte Cassino, and subsequently to Salerno, where he died 
in 1085, after again pronouncing sentence of excommunica¬ 
tion against Henry. During Henry’s absence the Saxons d 
and Swabians had elected Count Herman of Luxem¬ 
burg (1081 —1088), who obtained one victory over Henry 
(at Bleichfeld near Wiirtzburg in 1086), and soon afterwards 
resigned his crown. 


Rebellion of the sons of Henry IV. against 
their father (1093 —1105). 

Henry’s eldest son Conrad, who had already been 125 
crow ned as his successor in Germany, raised the standard 
of rebellion against his father, arid assumed the crown of 


66 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 126 . § 24 . 

(125) Italy at the instigation of the adversaries of Clement III., 
a who had elevated Urban II. to the papal throne. For this 
act of treason Conrad was deprived of the succession by 
sentence of a diet assembled at Cologne, and the crown 
secured to his brother Henry, who was required to pro¬ 
mise that he would not claim the sovereign authority 
during the lifetime of his father. Henry, however, soon 
violated his engagement, and headed an insurrection under 
the auspices of Pope Pascal II., who had renewed the bull 
of excommunication against Henry IV. on learning that 
the emperor was making preparations for the election of an 
b anti-pope. Although his personal liberty had been three 
times guaranteed by his son, Henry was seized and com¬ 
pelled to sign his abdication at Ingelheim. Thence he fled 
to Liege, where he died in the year 1106. His body was 
afterwards disinterred, and removed to Spiers, where it was 
buried on the removal of the ban of excommunication in 
1111 . 

4. Henry V. (1106—1125) 

126 had a twofold object in view 7 : 1. The restoration of 
the royal authority, which had fallen into contempt; 
2. The termination of the disputes with the pope 
respecting investiture, which had been revived by a 
c fresh decree of Pascal II. The first of these objects was 
promoted by the re-assertion of the almost obsolete claims 
of the German king to feudal supremacy over Bohemia 
and Poland, both of which countries were again compelled 
to pay tribute. A proposal of the pope, that the king 
should renounce the right of investiture, on condition of 
the bishops restoring to the empire all the fiefs which had 
belonged to it since the days of Charlemagne, having been 
generally resisted by the German clergy, Henry seized the 
person of the pope, and compelled him to renounce his own 
claim to the right of investiture, and place the imperial 
d crown on the head of his adversary. No sooner, however, 
had he quitted Italy, than the pope annulled the decree, on 
the ground of its having been obtained by intimidation, and 
pronounced the ban of excommunication against Henry, 
which was renewed by the two succeeding popes. At 
length the contest, which had lasted fifty years, was ter¬ 
minated by the conclusion, in the year 1122, of the Con- 


GERMAN EMPIRE. 


67 


127 , 128 . § 24 .] 

cordat of Wo rms, in which Henry, whose kingdom was (126) 
disquieted by the insurrections of his nobles, agreed to a 
renounce the right of investiture with the ring and staff, 
retaining only the sceptre; the pope, on his part, consent¬ 
ing that the election of bishops and abbots should take 
place in the imperial presence, and that, in the event of a 
disputed election, the question should be decided by the 
emperor, the archbishop and provincial bishops acting as 
his assessors. 

Changes in the constitution during the Saxon and 
Franconian period. 

The Monarchy. With the extinction of the Carlovingian 127 
line disappeared also the practice of dividing the kingdom b 
among sons ; but the hereditary right of succession was in 
some sort retained, inasmuch as the heir was invariably 
chosen by the electors as long as any member of the family 
survived. The election (from the same dynasty), and at a 
later period the coronation of the successor to the throne, 
took place during the lifetime of the reigning monarch. 
Whilst the officers appointed by the king were acquiring 
the right of hereditary succession, the monarchy itself w^as 
gradually becoming elective ; and the legality of this mode 
of proceeding was at length formally asserted at the election 
of Rudolph of Swabia. The limits of the royal authority c 
were not defined by statute, its greater or less extent 
depending principally on the family or personal influence 
of the sovereign. 

The Dukes, who had been restricted by Charlemagne 12S 
to the duty of leading the people in time of war, for 
which they were originally appointed, extended their 
sphere of action, after his death, by assuming the functions 
of the suppressed royal missi or commissioners, especially 
as regarded the presidency in courts of justice and pro¬ 
vincial assemblies. Thus they acquired no inconsiderable d 
influence in the election of kings ; whilst, on the other 
hand, their authority was crippled by the rising power of 
the cities, and the establishment of principalities under 
Margraves, Landgraves, &c. They were nominated by 
the king, but could only be removed for scandalous 
offences, and with the consent of the diet. Under Henry 
IV. most of the dukedoms became hereditary. 


68 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 129 — 133 . § 25 . 

129 The Margraves , the number of whom was increased in 
a the reign of Henry I. by conquests in the east, remained 

almost entirely independent of the dukes, whose military 
power they possessed in conjunction with the judicial 
authority of the counts. 

130 The Counts Palatine were appointed partly for the 
superintendence of single palaces or fortresses with their 
districts, and partly for the government of entire provinces, 
in which, as the king’s lieutenants, they watched over the 
administration of the law. The most important among 
them was the Count Palatine of the Rhine. 

131 The Counties were all hereditary under the Franconian 
b princes. The most important duty of the count was the 

administration of justice. 

§ 25. Italy (888—1125). 

A. The kingdom of Italy, 

132 comprising upper and central Italy, was governed 1) by 
kings of its own until the year 961. After the death of 
Arnulf, whose claims to the Italian crown could only be 
supported as long as he remained in Italy, fresh disputes 
arose between Friuli and Spoleto; and until the reign of 
Otho I., who re-united Italy to Germany in 961 (see § 78), 
each king had to contest the possession of the crown with 

c a rival claimant. At the same time the country was 
ravaged by the Hungarians, whose assistance was invoked 
sometimes by the one party, and sometimes by the other. 

133 2) by German kings, who remained in undisturbed pos¬ 
session of the Italian throne, with the exception of a fruit¬ 
less attempt on the part of the Margrave Harduin of Ivrea 
(see § 80) to depose Henry II. From the time of Otho 
I., Italy seems to have been split into a number of fiefs, 
some of them spiritual (in which episcopal vicecomites 
exercised the functions of counts), and some temporal 

D (under counts and margraves). Under the Othos, all the 
privileges which had before belonged to the kings (the 
right of imposing duties, of coining money, establishing 
markets, &c.) were gradually conferred on Italian sub¬ 
jects, principally on the priesthood; but, in order to pre¬ 
vent the great feudal lords from becoming too powerful, 


ITALY. 


69 


134 , 135 . § 25 .] 

the inferior fiefs were made hereditary by a constitution of (133) 
the Emperor Conrad, promulgated on the plains of Ron- a 
caglia in 1038; and a law was at the same time passed, 
securing to every man the right of being tried by his peers. 
During the decline of the imperial authority, consequent on 
the disputes of Henry IV. and V. with the Church, the 
Lombard cities repudiated the government of the emperor’s 
lieutenants, and formed themselves into republics, under 
consuls and magistrates of their own, the German king still 
retaining his title of King of Italy. 

B. Venice. 

The Venetian islands, which had been peopled by the 134 
emigration consequent on Attila’s invasion of Italy, were, b 
in the first instance, governed by tribunes, and subject to 
the Roman empire, then to the Ostrogothic, and at a later 
period again to the Roman. In the year 697 the whole 
group was placed under the administration of an officer 
named Dux or Doge; but their political relations with the 
eastern empire continued until the separation of Venice 
and the other Italian states from the Byzantine government, 
occasioned by the edicts of the iconoclastic emperors. 
About the year 800, the seat of government was esta¬ 
blished on the Rialto, an island which had successfully 
resisted the attacks of King Pepin (son of Charlemagne). 

Being joined by bridges to the other islands, it became the c 
centre of a maritime city, which enlarged its dominions by 
conquests in Dalmatia, about the year 1000 ; and by means 
of an extensive commerce, for which its position between 
two of the most powerful states of Europe afforded extra¬ 
ordinary facilities, soon became one of the most important 
cities of Italy, and eventually of the world. 

C. Papal Italy, or the States of the Church. 

The foundation of the pope’s temporal power was laid 135 
by Pepin (see § 59), who settled on the popedom the pro- d 
vinces of Romagna and Urbino, an endowment which 
Charlemagne not only confirmed, but augmented by grants 
of land in Tuscany ; and perhaps of those estates on the 
other side of the Tiber, which had been ceded to the 
empire by the Duke of Benevento. To this patrimony of 
St. Peter, as it was called, Henry III. added the city of 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


70 


[136, 137. § 25. 


(135) Benevento, in return for the renunciation by the pope 
a (Leo IX.) of the revenues and patronage of certain 
Frankish churches ; and a still more important accession of 
territory was obtained through the liberality of the Mar¬ 
gravine Matilda of Tuscany, who bequeathed (in 1077, not 
in 1102) all her allodes to the see of Rome. Lastly, the 
Normans consented to hold Apulia and Calabria as fiefs ; 
but, during this period, no temporal authority was exercised 
by the pope over Rome itself, or the dukedom in which it 
was situated. 


D. Lower Italy. 

136 On the ruins of the Lombard empire arose the Lom- 
b bardic dukedom of Benevento, which comprehended 

the greater part of the present kingdom of Naples, and was 
at first independent, but subsequently became a Frankish 
fief. At a later period Salerno and Capua separated 
from Benevento, and formed a second and third Lombardic 
principality. The Greeks retained only Calabria, and a 
narrow strip of territory along the western coast (wdth the 
cities of Terracina, Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi), which 
were exposed to perpetual attacks from the Arabians, who 
had been settled in Sicily since the year 827, and in a 
short time established themselves also in Bari. 

137 In the fourteenth century the whole of low T er Italy 
c became a prey to the Normans, who had first visited Italy 

as adventurers in the year 1017, and, in return for certain 
military services, had obtained from the Greek duke a strip 
of land, on which they built the city of Aversa. From this 
stronghold the twelve sons of Count Tancred, of Haute- 
ville, sallied forth to subdue Calabria and Apulia ; and 
one of them, Robert Guiscard (surnamed the Cunning), was 
invested by Pope Nicholas II. with the dignity of duke, 
and the fiefs of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, the last of which 
had been conquered by his brother Roger after a thirty 
d years’ war. Under pretence of replacing on the throne 
the deposed Emperor Michael VIII. (father-in-law of his 
daughter), Robert Guiscard raised an army, and after 
obtaining a victory at Durazzo, and placing a garrison in 
that key of the eastern empire, advanced towards Con¬ 
stantinople ; but the exhaustion of his army, an insurrec¬ 
tion of the Apulian cities, and the expedition of Henry IV. 





FRANCE. 


138—144. § 26.] 


71 


against Pope Gregory VII., compelled him to retrace his (137) 
steps. After liberating the pope, Robert undertook a a 
second expedition against Greece, and died during the 
campaign (at Cephalonia, in 1085). After the decease of 
his grandson (who died without issue), Apulia and Cala¬ 
bria were united with Sicily, by Roger II., son of his 
youngest brother, who was crowned King of the Two 
Sicilies in 1130. 


E. The Islands. 

1 . Sicily was taken from the Byzantines (in 827) by 138 
the Arabians, who were compelled to surrender it to the b 
Normans in 1060. 

2 . Sardinia was wrested from the Byzantines (850) by 139 
the Arabians, and from the Arabians by Pisa ( 1022 ). 

3. Corsica at first was subject to the Arabians, and 140 
then became the object of a struggle, which lasted 200 
years, between Genoa and Pisa. 


§ 26. France under the last Carlovingians. 

As Charles, third son of Lewis the Stammerer, was still 141 
a child, when the Frankish empire was divided for the 
third time, the nobles, who were hard-pressed by the 
invading Normans, elected 

1 . Otho, Count of Paris (888—898), who was unable 142 
either to restrain the insolence of the Normans, or obtain c 

a general recognition of his title to the throne. 

2 . Charles III., surnamed the Simple (898—929), 143 
who was elected in opposition to Otho (in 893), and after his 
death recognized as sole king, conferred on Rollo (or Rolf, 

a Norman prince, who had embraced Christianity, and 
been baptized by the name of Robert), the dukedom of 
Normandy with the feudal sovereignty of Bretagne, an 
arrangement which put an end to the Norman invasions. 
After the extinction of the Carlovingian race in Germany, D 
Charles took possession of Lorraine. Several nobles of 
the kingdom, being discontented with Hagano, the minister 
of Charles, conspired against the king, and elected (922) 

3. Robert, duke of Francia, brother of Count Otho, 144 
who was slain (after reigning one year) in a battle against 
Charles at Soissons. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, 


72 THE MIDDLE AGES. [145-149. § 26. 

145 4. Rudolph, duke of Burgundy (923 — 936). Charles 

a died in prison in 929. Lorraine re-united with Germany 
by Henry I. Repeated invasions of the Hungarians. On 
the death of Rudolph, without male issue, 

5 . Lewis IV. (surnamed the Stranger), the son of 
Charles the Simple, returned from England, and ascended 
the throne (936—954). Unsuccessful attempt to recover 
Normandy. His son and successor 

247 6 . Lothar (954—986) carried on a war with Otho II. 

B for the reconquest of Lorraine, with no success, be¬ 
yond obtaining for his brother Charles a grant of Lower 
Lorraine, to be held as a fief of Germany. On the death 
of his son 

243 7. Lewis V. (Faineant) without male issue, after a 

reign of fourteen months, his uncle Charles, duke of Lower 
Lorraine, was excluded from the succession, as being a Ger¬ 
man vassal, and Hugo [Hugh], surnamed Capet (from 
the robe, cappa, which he wore as a lay abbot?), duke of 
Francia, was proclaimed king by his vassals in 987. 

249 France about this time was split into a multitude of 
c greater and smaller fiefs, which became at length so nume¬ 
rous, as to leave no territory subject to the immediate 
control of the last Carlovingians except Soissons, Laon, and 
a few insignificant provinces. The immediate fiefs of the 
crown, the possessors of which might be said to share the 
sovereignty of the country with the king, rather than to be 
dependent on him, were the four dukedoms of Francia 
(between the Seine and Loire), Normandy with Bretagne, 
Aquitania orGuienne (to which the dukedom of Gascony was 
united at a later period), and Burgundy, and the three coun¬ 
ties of Toulouse, Flanders, and Vermandois (of which St. 
d Quentin was the capital). At the same time a distinction was 
established between northern and southern France, 
founded on the difference of language (the langue d’oil, or 
d’oui, also langue Fran^aise, being spoken north of the 
Loire, and southwards of that river the langue d’oc, which 
at a later period was termed the Provencal tongue), man¬ 
ners (the northern French character being more daring, 
warlike, and fond of display; the southern more quick-witted 
and cunning, but at the same time more industrious and 




ENGLAND. 


73 


150 — 155 . § 27 , 28 .] 

contented), and legal codes (in the north, the Territorial; in (149) 
the south, the Roman). a 

§ 27. France under the four first Capets (987—1108). 

1 . Hugh Capet (987—996), Duke of Francia and 150 
Count of Orleans, annexed the dukedom of Francia to the 
crown, and having gained over the clergy by granting them 
benefices, and the lay nobles by confirming them in the 
hereditary possession of their fiefs, was universally recog¬ 
nized as king, after the death of Duke Charles of Lower 
Lorraine, the last scion of the Carlovingian house. He 
was, however, merely the first of more than forty nobles. 

His son b 

2 . Robert (996—1031) added the dukedom of Bur- 151 
gundy to the possessions of the crown, and bestowed it as 

a fief on his third son Robert (founder of the younger 
Burgundian line, and ancestor of the kings of Portugal). 

3. Henry (1031—1060). Establishment of the Treuga 152 
Dei by the decrees of several councils. 

4. Philip I. (1060 —1108). At the beginning of his 153 
reign, under the guardianship of Count Baldwin of Flan- c 
ders, Duke William of Normandy conquers England, 
which is separated from Normandy after his death, his son 
William (Rufus) inheriting the former, and his eldest son 
Robert the latter. 

§ 28. England under the West Saxon kings (827—1016). 

The seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, or Saxon Heptarchy, 154 
after a series of struggles, were united under one crown by 
Egbert, King of Wessex, the first who gave the name of 
England (in 800) to the island of Britain. The Danes or d 
Normans, who for half a century (since 787) had harassed 
the separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms by repeated inva¬ 
sions, renewed their attacks towards the end of Egbert’s 
reign, and continued to ravage the country until the time of 
his youngest grandson 

Alfred the Great (871—901), 

who had been anointed by the Pope while yet a child. On 155 
his accession, Alfred found the whole of England, as far as 
Wessex, and subsequently as far as Somerset, in the hands 
of the Danes; and as most of the native inhabitants had 


74 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [156, 157. § 29. 




(155) either abandoned the island, or submitted to the invader, 
a he was compelled to pass one winter as a fugitive in the 
forests of Somersetshire. In the disguise of a minstrel, 
Alfred visited the Danish camp, and, availing himself of 
the information thus acquired, took the field at the head of 
the loyal inhabitants of three Gaus, and defeated the Danes 
at Heddington. Gothrun, the Danish leader, was per¬ 
suaded to embrace Christianity, and surrender East Anglia, 
Northumbria, and a few cities of Mercia to the conqueror. 

156 Having thus secured peace, at least for a season, Alfred 
b employed the time in restoring the cities (London among 
the rest) and fortresses which had been demolished by the 
Danes, building a fleet, fortifying the coasts against foreign 
invaders, and facilitating the administration of justice by 
the publication of a code of laws, and the division of the 
country into counties, hundreds, and tithings. Schools were 
also established in all parts of the country, learned men 
invited to visit England, and Latin authors translated into 
the vernacular language of England by Alfred himself. 
From these peaceful occupations, Alfred was summoned to 
defend his kingdom against the Normans, who had landed 
on the coast of Britain after their defeat at Louvain by 
c Arnulph. At the same time his hereditary dominions were 
assailed by two fleets manned by rebellious East Anglians 
and Northumbrians, who were soon compelled to return to 
their allegiance ; but it required a war of three years, and 
a succession of decisive battles, to drive the Normans out 
of England. The reigns of Alfred’s successors were dis¬ 
quieted by repeated insurrections of the Anglo-Danes, 
re-inforced by bands of their continental brethren. Ethel- 
red three times purchased peace at the expense of an 
annual tribute, termed the Danegeld; but these concessions 
d only incited the Danes to fresh acts of plunder. The dis¬ 
covery of a conspiracy against the king’s life induced 
Ethelred to command the massacre of all the Danes in his 
dominions on the same day (Nov. 13, 1002), an act of 
cruelty which Sweyn and his son and successor Canute 
avenged by conquering the whole of England. 


§ 29. Supremacy of the Danes in England (1016—1042). 

157 Canute (1016—1035), who at first shared the throne 
with Edmund Ironsides, the son of Ethelred, became, by 




ENGLAND. 


75 


158 , 159 . § 30 , 31 .] 

the death of his colleague, monarch of all England ; which (157) 
he divided into four provinces, viz., Wessex, Mercia, a 
East Anglia, and Northumbria, secured their rights of 
property to the Anglo-Saxons as well as to the Danes, by 
legislative enactments, forbad heathenish rites, increased 
the number of churches and convents, and enriched them 
with liberal gifts. By a convention with the Emperor 
Conrad II., Canute became master of the March of 
Schleswig. In the year 1028 he also conquered Nor¬ 
way and the north British kingdoms of Scotland and 
Cumberland. His pilgrimage to Rome. After his death, b 
his mighty empire was divided between his son Hardica- 
nute, who received Denmark as his portion, and his two 
(probably) supposititious sons, Sweyn and Harold, the 
former of whom was crowned King of Norway, and the 
latter of England. After Harold’s death, Hardicanute 
became also King of England, and, dying suddenly without 
issue, was succeeded by an Anglo-Saxon prince, Edward 
the Confessor, youngest and only surviving son of 
Ethelred. 

§ 30. Restoration and extinction of the Anglo-Saxon 
dynasty (1042—1066). 

Edward III. (The Confessor) (1042—1066) w'as 158 
entirely under the influence of Norman favourites and of c 
Earl Godwin, whose daughter was married to the king, and 
who with his sons possessed the larger and richer half of 
England. The introduction of the Norman language, man¬ 
ners, and customs into England excited universal discontent 
among the Saxon inhabitants. After his death the throne 
was occupied by his brother-in-law, Harold II., who d 
made head against his rebellious brother and his ally the 
King of Norway, but was overthrown, and lost his life in 
Si battle fought near Hastings (Oct. 14, 1066), where 
William of Normandy had landed with 60,000 picked 
soldiers. By this victory William gained the English 
crown, and the surname of “ The Conqueror.” 

§ 31. Scotland. 

The earliest inhabitants of Scotland were the Piets and 159 
Scots, the one a Celtic, the other an Irish race, both 
governed by kings of their own until the year 842, when 

e 2 


76 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [160, 161. § 32,33. 

(159) Kenneth II., King of the Scots, having conquered the 
a Piets, united the two kingdoms under the name of Scot¬ 
land. The Norman piratical hordes from Denmark and 
England were successfully withstood by the Scots, who 
formed an alliance with the Anglo-Saxons. The kingdom 
of Cumberland was conferred as a fief on Malcolm I. by 
Edmund Ironsides, grandson of Alfred; the Scotch monarch 
pledging himself to render military service whenever called 
on. Scotland and Cumberland were conquered by Canute, 
but permitted to retain their own kings as feudatories of 
England. 

§ 32. Ireland. 

160 Ireland, at its conquest by the English in 1172, seems to 
b have been divided into five states—Connaught, Ulster, 

Leinster, Munster, and Meath, each governed by its own 
king, but on some occasions subject also to one of the 
number, who exercised a sort of feudal authority over the 
others. As early as the fifth century the Irish were con¬ 
verted to Christianity (by St. Patrick?), convents and 
schools were established, and holy men visited the con¬ 
tinent for the purpose of converting the heathen German 
c tribes (Comp. § 14. 1, a). A code of Irish laws (Brehon 
laws, i. e. decisions of the judges) is still extant. The 
progress of civilization was retarded for three centuries 
(from 795) by the piratical invasions of the Normans, who 
conquered portions, but were never able to establish their 
authority over the whole island. 

§ 33. Spain. 

161 1. The Arabian portion of the Peninsula, which 
d (until the year 1087) was separated from Christian Spain by 

the river Duero [Douro], enjoyed a period of uninterrupted 
prosperity under the Ommaijad Caliphs of Cordova (756— 
1028), especially during the fifty years’ administration of 
Abderrahman III. (who subjugated the whole of Mauri¬ 
tania), and the reigns of his learned son Hakim II. and the 
great leader Almanzor. The country south of the Duero 
[Douro] had a population of twenty-five to thirty millions, 
with eighty cities of the first class. Cordova, the capital, 
contained more than a million of inhabitants, 600 mosques, 
eighty public schools, and a university with a library of 



SPAIN. 


77 


162 — 164 . § 33 .] 

600,000 volumes. The descriptions given by contem- (161) 
porary writers, of the splendour of the court and the mag- a 
nificence of the royal palaces (Azzehra with its 4300 
marble columns), border on the fabulous. Agriculture, 
horticulture, mining operations, and commerce (principally 
with Constantinople) employed a large portion of the 
population, whilst at the same time architecture, poetry, 
and the sciences, especially mathematics, astronomy, with 
astrology, chemistry, and medicine, were cultivated with 
great zeal and success. 

After the death of the last Ommaijad, the lieutenants of 162 
the different cities established a number of petty kingdoms, B 
all of which, with the exception of Saragossa, were over¬ 
thrown by Jussof, king of Morocco (of the dynasty of the 
Morabethes), who annexed Arabian Spain to his own 
dominions. 

2 . Christian Kingdoms, a. The kingdom of As tu- 163 
ria, founded by the Visigoths (who had been driven by 
the Arabians into the mountains of the North); was also 
called the kingdom of Leon , after the removal of the seat 
of government from Oviedo to that city. 

b. The Spanish March, which had been conquered 164 
by Charlemagne, was divided by his feeble successors into c 
two counties —Barcelona and Navarre. As the Counts of 
Navarre assumed the title of king, there were at this 
period two Christian kingdoms in Spain. After the death 
of King Sancho III., (Mayor,) Navarre was subdivided into 
four, and soon afterwards into three provinces— Castille , 
Arragon , and Navarre , which were subsequently re-united. 

At the conclusion of this period Christian Spain com- D 
prised— 

a. The county of Barcelona (independent of France 
since the year 997). 

b. The kingdom of Castille and Leon, of which 
Portugal formed a portion, until the year 1095, when it 
was granted as a county by King Alfonso VI. to his son-in- 
law, Henry of Burgundy. 

c. The kingdom of Arragon and Navarre. 


78 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [165 - 167 . § 34 , 35 . 


B. The East. 

§ 34. The Byzantine empire under the Macedonian em¬ 
perors (867—1056). 

165 At the commencement of this period the empire com- 
a prehended Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, with the islands of 

the Aegean Sea, a portion of Lower Italy and Asia Minor. 
The code of Justinian was republished under the title of 
“ Basilikai,” by Basilius, who also reformed the financial ad¬ 
ministration of the empire. His successors, the philosophi¬ 
cal LeoVI.and Constantine V. (Porphyrogenetus,) devoted 
themselves entirely to literary and scientific pursuits, whilst 
the Arabians, Bulgarians, and Russians ravaged their domi- 
b nions without encountering any opposition. On the other 
hand, Armenia, the countries between the Black and Cas¬ 
pian Seas, with the islands of Crete and Cyprus, Northern 
Syria and Sicily, were wrested from the Arabians by the 
Emperors Nicephorus, Phocas, and John Tzimisces. Basi¬ 
lius II. conquered Bulgaria, and put out the eyes of 15,000 
Bulgarians. After the extinction of the Macedonian male 
line, five individuals were raised to the throne by the 
daughters of the last emperor (Zoe and Theodora). The 
last of these rulers was deposed by Isaac Comnenus, 
who was proclaimed emperor by the army. 

166 Notwithstanding its gradual decline, the Eastern empire 
c was still the most considerable among the kingdoms of the 

Christian world, its population the most numerous and 
industrious, and its capital city the largest. Until the 
period of its dissolution the people continued to reject with 
scorn the appellation of “ Greeks,” bestowed on them by 
the Franks, and to speak of themselves as the “ Roman” 
d people. Luxury, profuse expenditure, and unmeaning 
etiquette still reigned at the imperial court. The legisla¬ 
tive and executive authorities were united in the person 
of the monarch ; and even the shadow of power retained 
by the senate was at last annihilated by a decree of Leo 
the Philosopher. 

§ 35. The Arabians under the Abbasides (750—1258). 

167 Soon after the accession of the Abbasides, the seat of 
government was transferred to Bagdad, a city on the 



TIIE EAST. 


79 


167 . § 35 .] 

western bank of the Tigris, which had been built on a (167) 
magnificent scale by A1 Mansur, and soon became the a 
capital of the commercial enterprise and civilization of the 
world. For the separation of Spain from the Caliphate, 
and establishment of a Caliphate at Cordova, see §11. 

In the fifth Caliph, Harun al Raschid, the contemporary 
and friend of Charlemagne, and still more in his son, 
Mamun (the seventh Abbaside), the arts and sciences, as 
well as commercial and manufacturing industry, found 
enlightened and liberal protectors; and throughout the 
empire, at that period the largest in the world, the muni¬ 
ficent example of the sovereign was followed by the pro¬ 
vincial governors. Notwithstanding these appearances of b 
prosperity, the work of dissolution had already com¬ 
menced—1. In the secession, at first of the more remote, 
and subsequently of the nearer provinces, which were 
erected into independent sovereignties by their rulers. 

Thus, for example, in Spain, the empire of the Ommai- 
jades was established at Cordova as early as the year 756; 
in Africa those of the Aglabides, Edrisides, Fatimides, 
and Morabethes; and in Asia a multitude of dynasties, 
almost all of which gradually became subject to the Selds- 
chuks, by whom towards the end of the eleventh century 
most of the Asiatic possessions of the caliphs were united 
under one crown. Scarcely, however, had the empire of c 
the Seldschuks been established on this extensive basis, 
when it was again split (after the death of the third sultan 
in 1092) into several small sovereignties (in Iran, Kerman, 
Aleppo, Damascus, and Iconium, or Rum), nothing re¬ 
maining to the caliphs but the city of Bagdad, with its 
immediate neighbourhood. 2. In the admission into Bag¬ 
dad of a Turkish body-guard of 50,000 men, who soon 
exercised uncontrolled influence, deposing and appointing 
caliphs at their pleasure. 3. In constant political and d 
religious dissensions (formidable sects of the Carmathians 
and Assassins). 4. In a succession of feeble , and at the 
same time cruel and oppressive rulers, who since the year 
955 had entrusted the affairs of government to a Turk 
under the title of Emir al Omrah, reserving to them¬ 
selves only the high priesthood. 


e 4 



80 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [168 - 170 . § 36 . 


C. The North-east of Europe. 

§ 36. Scandinavia . 

168 1. Norway and Iceland. The provinces of Norway 
a existed as independent sovereignties, each governed by its 

own petty monarch until the end of the ninth century, when 
they were united under Harald Harfagr, who founded a 
Norwegian kingdom, to which he soon afterwards added, 
by conquest, the Hebrides, Feroe, and Shetland islands, 
and the Isle of Man. The chieftains who refused to submit 
to his authority, either emigrated to Western Europe or 
Sweden, or colonized the recently (in 861) discovered 
island of Iceland, where they established a fourth Scan¬ 
dinavian state, which was soon raised into importance by 
the commercial and manufacturing activity of its founders, 
and their extensive voyages of discovery (to Greenland, 
B North America, &c.). About the year 1000 Christianity 
was introduced by Olaf I. and Olaf the Saint. At the same 
time Norway was conquered and divided by the Danes and 
Swedes. Olaf the Saint, who had made head for a long 
period against the invaders, was at length conquered and 
slain in a battle with Canute the Great; but the independ¬ 
ence of Norway was re-established by his son Magnus. 

169 2. Sweden was inhabited by two principal races, the 
c Fins and Germans; the latter being also subdivided into 

Goths and Swedes, who (about the time when Harald 
formed the petty principalities of Norway into one king¬ 
dom) were placed by Erich, the son of Edmund, under one 
sovereign, who resided at Upsala, the city of the gods. 
The Christian religion, although known in Sweden as early 
as 800, was not generally received until the year 1000, 
when the repeated attempts of missionaries from Hamburg 
and Bremen, to convert the people, were at length crowned 
with success. 

170 3. Denmark. The Danish islands and Jutland had 
d each their own king, until the time of Gorm the Elder, 

king of Zealand (of the race of the Skioldings, who trace 
their descent from Odin), who overthrew the other chief¬ 
tains, and compelled the whole nation to recognize him as 
their sovereign, in the year 900. His male descendants 
occupied the throne until the middle of the eleventh cen- 





81 


171. § 37.] THE NORTH-EAST OF EUROPE. 

tury. For the conquest of Schleswig, by Henry I., and (170) 
the expedition of Otho the Great to Jutland, see § 23. a 
Sweyn conquered England, to avenge the murder of the 
Danes, and also Norway (in conjunction with the Swedes). 

He was succeeded in England by Canute the Great 
(1014), who also ascended the Danish throne after the 
death of his elder brother Harold (in 1016). Under 
this sovereign Schleswig was annexed to the kingdom of 
Denmark, by a convention with the Emperor Conrad II.; 
and Norway, which had re-asserted its independence under 
Olaf the Saint, was again reduced to submission. For the b 
confirmation of the Christian religion, which had been 
established by his father, Canute founded churches, con¬ 
vents, and bishoprics. After his death and that of his son, 
Denmark was for a short time subject to Magnus, king of 
Norway, until its emancipation by Sweyn Estritson, who 
founded the dynasty of the Estritides (1047—1375). 

§ 37. Russia. 

Russia, the southern portion of which was inhabited by 171 
the Chazares, and the north and centre by Tschudish and c 
Sclavonian tribes, was visited in the year 862, on the 
invitation of the Sclavonians, by the Varogian chieftain 
Ruric (a prince of the Swedish tribe of Russ), who 
founded the grand-dukedom of Russia, with its capital 
Novgorod, from which the government was soon afterwards 
transferred to Kiev, where the family of Ruric continued 
to reign until the end of the sixteenth century (1598). 
Under his immediate successors, the Normans, in conjunc- D 
tion with the Sclavonians, following the course of the 
Dnieper, made several predatory descents on the coasts of 
the Byzantine empire; but being unable to withstand the 
destructive Greek fire, they concluded a truce, the result 
of which was a peaceful commercial intercourse with their 
former enemies, and the introduction of Christianity into 
Russia. Vladimir the Great (988) embraced Christianity 
on his marriage with a Byzantine princess (Anna), and 
endeavoured to spread the knowledge of the true faith by 
building churches and convents. The district known as 
“ Red Russia” was conquered by this sovereign, who 
endeavoured to introduce Byzantine civilization among his 

e 5 


82 THE MIDDLE AGES. [172,173. §38,39. 

a subjects. Kiev, with its 400 churches, was popularly 
spoken of as a second Constantinople. 

§ 38. Poland . 

172 The Slaves on the middle Vistula (whose capital was 
Gnesen) were called Poles. In the year 840 they chose 
for their Duke a peasant named Piast, whose family 
continued to reign for more than five centuries (until 
1370). In the year 965, one of their dukes named 
Miecislav, embraced Christianity, founded a bishopric at 
Posen, and recognized the Emperor of Germany as his 

b feudal sovereign. His son Boleslav, with the assistance 
of St. Adalbert, exterminated the remnants of heathenism, 
and founded bishoprics at Breslau, Colberg, and Cracow, 
and an archbishopric at Gnesen. This prince carried on 
several wars successfully against the Russians, united under 
his rule the Lechites, Poles, Masovians, Cracowians, and 
Silesians, compelled the Pomeranians to pay tribute, and 
a short time before his death caused himself (in 1024) to 
be crowned King of Poland, by his bishops. Bolis- 
lav II. having abandoned his dominions, in consequence of 
a sentence of excommunication pronounced against him by 
Pope Gregory VII. for the murder of St. Stanislaus, bishop 
of Cracow, Poland again became a dukedom (from 1079 
to 1295). 

§ 39. Hungary . 

173 Towards the end of the ninth century (889) the Hunga- 
c rians (called also Magyars from the name of their principal 

tribe) advanced from the centre of Asia into the country of 
the Avares, under the command of a leader named Arpad, 
whose family continued to reign until the end of the thir¬ 
teenth century. After assisting King Arnulf against the 
Moravians, and taking possession of their country, squa¬ 
drons of Hungarian cavalry overran Southern Germany, 
Burgundy, and Italy, until they were driven back by Henry 
d I. and Otho I. Christianity was introduced among them 
towards the end of the tenth century, and several bishop¬ 
rics (nine or ten, including the archbishopric of Gran) were 
founded by Duke Stephen the Saint, who was crowned 
king by Pope Sylvester II. in the year 1000. Peter, the 
son and successor of this Stephen, having irritated the 


83 


174 . § 40 .] THE NORTH-EAST OF EUROFE. 

people beyond endurance by his excesses, was deprived of (17 
the throne, which he recovered by the aid of Henry III., a 
to whom he took the oath of fealty as a vassal of the 
empire. He was deprived of his sight by a savage faction 
(who desired the re-establishment of paganism), and died in 
prison. After thirty years of intestine confusion, tran¬ 
quillity was at length restored by Ladislav the Saint. 

§ 40. Religion , arts , sciences , fyc., during the first period. 

The Church. The increasing influence of the clergy 174 
was viewed by the temporal power with a jealousy, which B 
was the natural result of the vague and ill-defined position 
occupied by the two parties with reference to each other. To 
the pope belonged the privilege of crowning the emperors, 
the supreme legislative authority in ecclesiastical matters, 
and judicial power, not only over spiritual persons, but, in 
questions affecting the interests of the Church, over laymen 
also (the interdict and excommunication). He also en¬ 
joyed the right of appointment to the highest ecclesiastical 
offices (gift of the pallium to the bishops), and the posses¬ 
sion of the territories conferred on the Church by Pepin. 

The number of converts was greatly increased, especially c 
in Germany, between the ninth and eleventh centuries. 

The monks, most of whom (since the tenth century) were 
priests, employed themselves, according to the rule of St. 
Benedict, in agriculture, various handicrafts, the instruction 
of youth, transcribing of ancient writers, the compilation of 
chronicles, &c.; but the general profligacy and coarseness 
of the times, the introduction of lay brethren, and, more 
than all, the increasing wealth of these establishments, pro¬ 
duced, in many instances, a laxity of discipline utterly sub¬ 
versive of morality, A partial reformation was effected d 
by the establishment of a convent at Clugny in Burgundy, 
after the rule of St. Benedict, whose improvements were 
adopted in seventeen other convents. At the same time 
strenuous efforts were made by the Abbot Dunstan for the 
introduction of the same rule into the convents of England. 

Some additions to the rule of St. Benedict in the eleventh 
century occasioned the establishment of the Cistercian 
order (so named from their first convent at Citeaux near 
Dijon), out of which arose the Bernardine (founded by St. 

e G 


84 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[175, 176. § 40. 

(174) Bernard of Clairvaux) and the Carthusian (by St. Bruno of 
a Cologne in 1086). Cathedral chapters, the members of 
which, from the regularity of their lives, w r ere termed 
canonici or canons \ were founded in 760, by Chrodogang, 
bishop of Metz, and generally established by a diet held by 
Lewis the Pious at Aachen (Aix-la Chapelle) in 816 ; but 
as early as the eleventh century, many of them had relaxed 
the strictness of their original discipline. 

175 For the propagation of Christianity, and the develop¬ 
ment of the various political constitutions, see the 
history of the different countries. 

175 Arts and Sciences. During the whole of this period 
B the arts and sciences flourished not only among the Asiatic, 
but in a still higher degree among the Spanish Arabians (see 
§ 33). The Caliphs (especially Mamun) spared no ex¬ 
pense for the purpose of procuring Greek, Persian, Coptic, 
and Chaldaic manuscripts, which were translated into 
Arabic by societies of learned men. In all the Arabian 
provinces, particularly in Bagdad, Alexandria, Ispahan, 
Samarcand, Damascus, Kufa, Bassora, and, above all, in 
Cordova, there existed schools and universities, in which 
not only Mussulmans, but Christians and Jews, and even 
some of the Caliphs themselves, received instruction in 
philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and physical science. 
c The poetry of this period, although fostered by poetical 
contests at the courts of the Caliphs, was deficient in 
comprehensiveness, variety, and arrangement. The litera¬ 
ture of the Arabians is rich in legendary tales and romances 
of chivalry, the latter of which were invented by the 
writers of that country; but their best works have all the 
D dryness of ancient chronicles. Geographical science was 
also greatly advanced by their conquests, voyages, and pil¬ 
grimages; but their most successful efforts were in the 
department of natural science, including every branch of 
medicine except anatomy, the practice of which was for¬ 
bidden by the Koran. This defect was, however, in some 
measure supplied by a diligent study of botany, and by the 
discoveries for which chemistry was indebted to the per¬ 
severing but fruitless attempts of the alchemists to produce 
the philosophers’ stone. In philosophy and physics they 


1 [From the Greek word Kavibv, a rule.] 


85 


176 . § 40 .] THE NORTH-EAST OF EUROPE. 

never advanced beyond the principles of Aristotle, which (176) 
were often misunderstood. Algebra, trigonometry, and a 
astronomy were simplified, and enriched with new dis¬ 
coveries ; astrology was also highly esteemed. The Ara¬ 
bian school of architecture, the characteristics of which were 
lightness and profuse ornament, produced several magnifi¬ 
cent works, especially in Spain. In Persia also poetry 
flourished under the Ghasnavides and Seldschuks. The 
most renowned of the Persian epic poets, Firdusi, who 
celebrated in his verses the heroic deeds of the Persian 
kings, lived at the court of Ghasna about a.d. 1000. In b 
the Byzantine empire , Greek literature, which had been 
neglected during the iconoclastic controversy, began again 
to be cultivated in the ninth century, but with little result 
beyond the publication of extracts (by Photius and Con- 
stantinus Porphyrogenetus) from the ancient writers. His¬ 
torical writing was almost entirely limited to the compilation 
of dry chronicles. Suidas in his grammatical and historical 
Lexicon, and the author of the Etymologicum Magnum, 
exhibit an intimate acquaintance with the works of classical 
writers. In sculpture and painting, simplicity and good 
taste were rapidly disappearing before a love of the 
elaborate and minute. In the West , learning was exclusively c 
in the hands of the clergy, who studied in the renowned 
convents and capitular schools of St. Gall, Corvey, Fulda, 
Paderborn, and Hildesheim, as well as at Paris and in 
Normandy. Several historical works, all in the Latin 
language, were published by the German clergy: Witte- 
hind (History of the Saxons), Dithmar (History of the 
Saxon Emperors, 876 to 1018), Wippo (Life ofConrad II.), 
Hermannus Contractus (Chronicles), Lambert of Aschaffen- 
burg (Annals). The scholastic philosophy taught in the d 
church schools, especially at Paris, consisted in the adapta¬ 
tion of the dialectics of Aristotle to the discussion of theo¬ 
logical theses. The most distinguished professors of this 
philosophy and of the mysticism of the Middle Ages were 
Joh. Scotus Erigena (at the court of Charles the Bald), 
and two archbishops of Canterbury, Lanfranc and An¬ 
selm. The most renowned school of jurisprudence was 
at Bologna, and of medicine at Salerno. The study of 
mathematical science was promoted in France by Gerbert, 
archbishop of Rheims (afterwards Pope Sylvester II.), who 
had received his education in Moorish Spain. Natural 


86 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 177 . § 40 . 

(176) philosophy was rather speculative than experimental; 
a hence the study of astrology, magic, and alchemy. Latin 
ceased to be a living tongue in the ninth century, the 
Roman and German languages having now assumed a 
settled form. The earliest specimens of German literature 
are the Ludwigslied (Lay of Lewis), Otfried’s Christ (a 
harmony of the Gospels in rhyme), and Notker’s transla¬ 
tion of the Psalms.—Among the arts, architecture produced 
the most considerable works in a mixed Lombardo-Byzan- 
tine style, e.g. in the noble Minsters at Bamberg, Worms, 
b Mainz, Spiers, &c. Baronial castles were first built in 
the eleventh century (the Wartburg in 1067).—Sculpture 
and painting seem to have been at the lowest ebb in this 
century, with the exception of painting on glass, which had 
become very general. Music made considerable progress, 
in consequence of the invention of a new system of notes, 
by Guido of Arezzo ; and of time, by Franco of Cologne. 

177 Trade and manufacturing industry flourished 
c principally in the Arabian countries, especially in Spain 
(compare § 33), where they found in the Abbasides patrons 
no less zealous than the Ommaijades had been at an 
earlier period. The commerce of Byzantium was gradually 
transferred to the Italian sea-ports of Venice, Pisa, Genoa, 
and Amalfi, which had already established themselves as 
emporia, whilst the trade of the other western ports was 
still limited to the mere supply of the daily wants of the 
inhabitants. Indian and Levantine wares were brought 
d into Germany up the Danube from Constantinople. Re¬ 
gensburg [Ratisbon], at that period the most populous and 
important city of Germany, was the emporium of the 
commerce not only between the East and West, but also 
between the North and South, that is to say, between 
Poland, Prussia, and Russia, on the one side, and Italy on 
the other. The cities of the South of France, especially 
Marseilles, traded for the most part to the Levant; and 
those of the North (as well as of Friesland and the North of 
Germany) to England. Commercial relations also existed 
between the Sclavonians on the Elbe and Baltic, and the 
neighbouring countries. Manufacturing industry was pro¬ 
moted by the rapid increase in the number of cities, the 
establishment of fairs, and the discovery of gold and silver 
mines in the Hartz mountains, in the reign of Otlio the 
Great. 


178 . § 41 .] 


THE CRUSADES. 


87 


THIRD PERIOD. 

AGE OF THE CRUSADES (1096—1273). 

§ 41. The Crusades (1096—1273). 

The First Crusade (1096—1100). 

For many years it had been the practice of Christians, 178 
from all parts of the Roman empire, to perform pilgrim- a 
ages to the Holy Sepulchre, where a magnificent church 
had been erected by Constantine the Great. The number 
of those who visited Jerusalem had gone on steadily in¬ 
creasing, even after the occupation of the city by the 
Arabians (636) ; but under the Fatimides and Seldschuks 
a system of persecution was carried on against the Chris¬ 
tians, who were compelled by the Turks to pay a heavy 
tax for the privilege of visiting the Holy City. Instead, b 
however, of diminishing the number of pilgrims, the effect 
of this intolerant measure was to excite throughout Chris¬ 
tendom a general desire to make Palestine again a 
Christian kingdom. The complaints of the Eastern 
Christians were seconded by Peter of Amiens, or Peter 
the Hermit, as he is generally called, who had recently 
returned from the Holy Land, and was now traversing 
Italy, France, and Germany, and every where describing 
the atrocities of which he had himself been an eye-witness. 
Councils of the Church were also held at Piacenza and c 
Clermont, at which Pope Urban II. exhorted the people to 
assist in the good work of delivering Jerusalem out of the 
hands of the unbelievers. In the Spring of 1096, the 
crusade was commenced by detached bands of adventurers 
from France, Italy, and Lorraine, who penetrated as far as 
Hungary and Bulgaria, where most of them were cut to 
pieces by the inhabitants. The remainder, under Peter 
the Hermit and Walter of Pexeijo, a needy adventurer, 
surnamed in derision the Lord of Lackland (Habenichts), 


88 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 179 . § 41 . 

(178) advanced as far as Nicaea, where their army was well nigh 
a annihilated. On the 15th of August, 1096, an expedition 
on a larger scale, and under more favorable auspices, was 
undertaken by Godfrey de Bouillon, duke of Lower 
Lorraine, his brother Baldwin, Count Robert of Normandy 
(brother of the King of England), Robert, count of Flan¬ 
ders, Raymond, count of Toulouse, Boemund, prince of 
Tarento, and his nephew Tancred. The grand army, the 
several divisions of which reached Asia Minor by different 
routes, numbered, we are told, more than half a million of 
b men. The city of Nicaea was first attacked and carried 
by storm. Then the crusaders took Edessa, and conferred 
the sovereignty of that district on Baldwin of Lorraine. 
Antiochia, which had surrendered after a siege of nine 
months, was on the eve of falling again into the hands of 
the Turks, when the besieged, re-assured, it is said, by the 
discovery of the sacred lance *, made a sally from the gates, 
dispersed the Turkish army, and established a Christian 
c principality under Boemund of Tarento. The army of the 
crusaders, reduced to 20,000 infantry and 1500 cavalry, at 
last reached Jerusalem, which a few years before (in 1095) 
had been re-conquered by the Fatimides. After closely 
investing the city for thirty-nine days, the assailants scaled 
the walls on the 15th of July, 1099, and put the infidels to 
death without mercy. Godfrey de Bouillon, as the 
best and bravest of their leaders, was proclaimed King of 
Jerusalem, but refused to accept any higher title than that 
of duke. 

179 A Christian state was also founded at Tripolis, by Ray- 
X) mond of Toulouse. An army of 140,000 men was collected 
for the re-conquest of Palestine, by the Caliph of Egypt, 
who was drawn into an ambuscade near A seal on, and 
defeated by Godfrey de Bouillon, with only 20,000 men. 
In the year 1100 Godfrey died, in consequence of the 
fatigues which he had undergone during the siege, and was 
succeeded by his brother Baldwin I., prince of Edessa, 
who accepted the title of king, and being supported by the 
free states of Italy, Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, added the 
maritime cities of Caesarea, Tripolis, Berytus, and Sidon 
to the kingdom of Jerusalem, which at its first establish- 

1 [The spear, according to tradition, with which the side of our 
Blessed Saviour was pierced.] 


THE CRUSADES. 


89 


180 — 182 . § 41 .] 

ment consisted merely of the capital with the city of (179) 
Joppa, and about twenty hamlets. Division of the king- a 
dom into—1. the crown-lands; 2. the county of Tri- 
polis ; 3. the principality of Antiochia; 4. the county of 
Edessa. 


The Second Crusade (1147—1149). 

After repeated attempts on the part of the Egyptian 180 
caliphs to regain possession of the Holy Land, Edessa was b 
taken by storm, during the minority of Baldwin III., and 
its inhabitants put to the sword, or sold as slaves. On 
receiving intelligence of this disaster, Bernard, abbot of 
Clairvaux, persuaded the emperor, Conrad III., and 
Louis VII., king of France, to undertake a second cru¬ 
sade. The two armies marched through Hungary with 
little loss, and entered the Byzantine dominions ; but soon 
afterwards the German division was abandoned by its 
Greek guides near Iconium, and, after suffering severely 
from want of provisions, was attacked by the forces of the 
Sultan of Iconium so fiercely, that scarcely a tenth part 
survived the engagement. After sustaining considerable c 
loss, some joined Conrad at Jerusalem, and the two sove¬ 
reigns proceeded to lay siege to Damascus; but, failing in 
their attempt, they abandoned the Holy Land, and re¬ 
turned to their own dominions. 

The Third Crusade (1189—1193). 

The dynasty of the Fatimides in Egypt was sustained 181 
(11G3) by the generals of Nureddin, sultan of Damascus, d 
who was soon succeeded by his nephew Saladin. This 
monarch revived the claims of Egypt to Syria and Pales¬ 
tine, defeated the Christians near Damascus, took their 
king, Guy de Lusignan, prisoner, and entering Jerusalem 
in triumph, put an end to the kingdom which had lasted 
eighty-eight years. 

The loss of the Holy City occasioned the third crusade, 182 
which was undertaken by the emperor, Frederick I. (Bar- 
barossa), now in his seventieth year, Philip Augustus, king 
of France, and Richard Coeur de Lion of England, with the 


90 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 183 , 184 . § 41 . 

(182) flower of their chivalry. Barbarossa, whose army was the 
a first in the field, entered Asia Minor, and, having defeated 
the Sultan of Iconium, stormed that city, but soon after¬ 
wards was drowned in the river Calycadnos. 

183 The remains of his army, the ranks of w’hich were daily 
thinned by pestilence and desertion, at last reached Accon, 
Acra, or Ptolemais (St. Jean d’Acre), where their com¬ 
mander, Duke Frederick of Swabia, son of the late empe¬ 
ror, instituted the order of Teutonic Knights, and soon 
afterwards died of the plague, during the siege of the city, 

Bin the year 1191. Soon after his death the place was 
surrendered to the kings of France and England. It was 
on this occasion that Richard Cceur de Lion insulted 
Leopold, duke of Austria, by trampling on his banner. 
Philip and Richard having disagreed respecting the par¬ 
tition of their conquests, and the mode of carrying on the 
war, the former returned to France; and Richard, after 
raising the siege of Joppa, concluded an armistice with 
Saladin, by the terms of which the whole line of coast from 
Joppa to Accon remained in the hands of the Christians, 
free access to the holy places being also secured to them, 
c The island of Cyprus, which had been conquered by 
Richard, was sold by him to Guy, the last king of Jeru¬ 
salem : hence the kingdom of Cyprus (to the year 1480). 
On his return from Palestine, Richard was seized by 
Leopold VI. of Austria, and delivered up to the emperor, 
Henry VI., by whom he was released after two years’ 
imprisonment, on payment of a ransom of 150,000 marks. 

The (so-named) Fourth Crusade (1202—1204). 

184 Fresh bands of crusaders were sent out by the emperor, 
d Henry VI., and, having reached Syria by the route of 

Constantinople, regained possession of Sidon, Tyre, and 
Berytus. Meanwdiile the emperor himself died in Sicily. 
The (so-called) fourth crusade was undertaken by the 
Franks and Venetians, whose forces, instead of advancing 
into Palestine, remained at Byzantium, for the purpose of 
restoring the emperor, Isaac Angelus, who had been de¬ 
posed and blinded by his brother Alexius. Finding, how¬ 
ever, that the promises made on behalf of his father by 


THE CRUSADES. 


91 


185 . § 41 .] 

Alexius the younger (son of the Emperor Isaac), were not (184) 
likely to be fulfilled (Isaac having died of grief and terror a 
during an insurrection of the Greeks), the French and 
Venetians a second time took possession of Constantinople, 
chose Baldwin, count of Flanders and Hennegau, for their 
emperor, and thus founded the Latin Empire (1204— 
1261). Baldwin received only a fourth part of the empire, 
with the title and authority of feudal sovereign over the 
rest, which was divided among the Venetians, who ob¬ 
tained possession of the shores of the Adriatic, iEgean, and 
Black Seas, together with most of the Greek islands; and 
the French and Lombard nobles, one of whom, the Mar¬ 
quis of Montferrat, received for his share the whole of 
Macedonia and a portion of Greece, which were named the 
kingdom of Thessalonica. A Greek empire was soon after- b 
■ wards established at Nicaea by Theodore Lascaris (one 
of the family of the Comneni), whilst at the same time 
another Byzantine prince reigned independently, with the 
title of emperor, at Trebizond. In the year 1261, the 
Emperor of Nicaea, Michael Palaeologus (with the assist¬ 
ance of the Genoese, who were jealous of the Venetians), 
took Constantinople, and put an end to the Latin empire. 

The Crusade of Frederic II. (1228.) 

The attempts of Pope Innocent III. to regain Palestine, 185 
by means of a general crusade, were utterly unsuccessful, c 
The children’s crusade in 1213, and the expedition to 
Syria of Andrew II., king of Hungary, terminated in dis¬ 
appointment and disgrace, whilst the advantage obtained 
by the titular King of Jerusalem (John of Brienne), through 
the capture of Damietta, was again lost by the surrender 
of that fortress to the infidels in the year 1221. On d 
receiving intelligence of this calamity, Pope Honorius III. 
vehemently urged on the emperor, Frederic II., the neces¬ 
sity of fulfilling the promise which he had made at his 
accession, and again at his coronation ; but so many diffi¬ 
culties intervened, that the commencement of the crusade 
was deferred until the year 1227. Scarcely had the empe¬ 
ror assembled his forces, when sickness compelled him 
again to defer the expedition; and the pope (Gregory IX.), 
who believed this to be a mere pretext, at once published 


92 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [186 —188. § 41. 

(185) the sentence of excommunication against him. In the year 
a 1228, Frederic visited Palestine, and placed on his own 
head the crown of Jerusalem, which had been ceded to 
him, together with the surrounding territory as far as Tyre, 
by Camel, sultan of Egypt. 

The Sixth Crusade (1248). 

186 A violation of the armistice by some pilgrims, under the 
b command of the King of Navarre, again occasioned the 

loss of Jerusalem in 1239; and five years later (1244) the 
city was taken from the Turks by the Carizmians, who had 
been driven out of Khorassan by the Monguls. About 
this time Lewis IX., king of France, commonly called 
St. Louis, undertook his crusade in fulfilment of a vow which 
he had made during a severe illness, and landing in Egypt, 
the possession of which seemed an indispensable prelude 
to an attempt on the Holy Land, took Damietta, and 
c defeated the Turks. Advancing towards Cairo, he was 
taken prisoner, with his whole army; and after a long nego- 
ciation was at length released, on condition of evacuating 
Damietta, and paying a ransom of 800,000 pieces of gold. 
After his liberation, Louis still lingered in Accon until the 
year 1254, and fortified the sea-ports of Palestine. 

The Seventh Crusade (1270). 

187 The possessions of the Christians in the East having 
D fallen one by one into the hands of the Mamelukes, who 

had overthrown the dynasty of Saladin, and raised them¬ 
selves to the rank of sultans of Egypt (1254—1517), 
Louis undertook another crusade, and at the instance of 
his brother, Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, landed at 
Tunis, where a pestilence carried off himself and the 
greater part of his army. In the year 1291, Accon, the 
last of the Christian possessions in Palestine, fell into the 
hands of the Mamelukes. 

Results of the Crusades. 

A. Political Consequences. 

188 1 .To the Hierarchy, a. The exaltation of the papal 
power was the natural consequence of a system in which 


189, 190. § 41.] RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 93 

the pope appeared as the originator of plans, which the (188) 
temporal sovereigns of Europe were called on to execute, a 
b. The authority of the pope over the clergy was also aug¬ 
mented by the opportunities which the crusades afforded 
him of appointing legates, who exercised, as representatives 
of the Holy See, considerable influence over the arch¬ 
bishops and bishops, and of placing episcopal vicars in the 
dioceses during the absence of the bishops, c. The wealth 
of the clergy was greatly increased by the opportunities 
afforded to churches and convents of purchasing, at a cheap 
rate, the estates of those who were anxious to join the 
crusades. 

2. To the Sovereigns of Europe. Increase in the num- 189 
ber of estates belonging immediately to the crown, occa- b 
sioned by the falling in of several fiefs, especially in France 
under Philip II.—Another result of the wars against the 
infidels, was the extension in European countries of the 
dominions of Christian sovereigns (e.g. in Spain), and the 
establishment (e. g. in Prussia) of new Christian states. 

3. To the Nobility , the consequences of the crusades 190 
were most important, a. The spirit of aristocracy de- c 
veloped itself in the formation of the knightly character, 
which was a compound of religious enthusiasm, reckless 
courage, and love of adventure in the service of religion 

or of beauty, b. The distinctive forms of nobility were 
created by the adoption of family names and coats of arms, 
and the institution of degrees of chivalry (pages, esquires, 
knights), c. Origin of the religious orders of knight -d 
hood. aa. The Knights Hospitallers , or Knights of St. 

John. Some merchants from Amalfi had founded at Jeru¬ 
salem a convent and hospital for sick pilgrims. The 
monks of this institution, which was dedicated to St. John, 
were afterwards sworn to do battle against the infidels, and 
were divided into three classes, viz. chaplains, who con¬ 
ducted the public worship; knights, who bore arms ; and 
lay-brethren, on whom devolved the care of the sick and 
poor. This order spread over the whole of Europe, and 
was divided into eight “ tongues,” according to the lan¬ 
guages of the different states in which it was established. 

The president bad at first the title of u Master,” and after¬ 
wards of “ Grand Master.” After the loss of Palestine, 
the Knights Hospitallers established themselves at Cyprus, 


94 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 191 . § 41 . 

(190) and in the year 1309 took possession of Rhodes (hence 
a their title of Knights of Rhodes ), which they held against the 
Turks until 1522, when they were presented by the em¬ 
peror, Charles V., with Malta, Gozzo, and Cornino (hence 
their title of Knights of Malta), on condition of their waging 
perpetual war against infidels and pirates. Malta was 
b taken from them by Napoleon, in the year 1798. hh. The 
Knights Templars. The nucleus of this order existed as 
early as the year 1118, in an association of nine French 
knights, for the protection of pilgrims on the high roads. 
Their name was derived from their residence near the site 
of Solomon’s temple, in a building granted to them by 
Baldwin II. After the loss of the Holy Land, most of the 
Templars sought an asylum in France, where they w r ere 
cruelly put to death by Philip IV. (1312), after a mock 
trial on charges substantiated by no better evidence than 
c confessions extorted from them by the rack. cc. The 
Teutonic Order was founded during the siege of Accon (in 
1190) by a number of German knights and pilgrims, who 
formed an association for the relief of persons attacked by 
a pestilential disease, which at that time raged in the Ger¬ 
man camp. The knights were exclusively Germans. Their 
president had the title of Teutonic Master, or Grand 
Master. Their residence was removed from Jerusalem to 
Venice by their fourth grand master, the renowned Her¬ 
man of Salza, who undertook the conversion of the heathen 
Prussians. After a struggle, which lasted fifty-three years, 
Herman obtained possession of Prussia, and transferred his 
d residencefrom Venice toMarienburginl309. The establish¬ 
ment of these orders contributed essentially to the formation 
and consolidation of an aristocracy, and prepared the w r ay for 
the institution of similar orders of knighthood in Europe. 
In Palestine they supplied the place of a standing army, 
and in the struggles between the ecclesiastical and temporal 
powers, rendered essential service to the party which had 
the good fortune to secure their adherence. 

191 4. To the Burgher Order. Guilds, or fraternities of 

Burghers, were established, which obtained various privi¬ 
leges, generally by purchase, when their lords w r ere in want 
of money. The growth and prosperity of their cities were 
promoted by the absence of the nobles, as well as by the 
increasing activity displayed in commercial pursuits. 


95 


192 — 194 .' § 41 .] RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 

5. To the 'peasant order. The necessity which existed of (191) 
employing freemen in the cultivation of those farms from a 
which the serfs had been withdrawn, to supply the ranks of 
the crusaders, occasioned a diminution in the number of 
vassals, and the gradual establishment of a free peasantry. 

B. Consequences to Trade and Manufactures. 

1. To maritime enterprise. Important commercial privi- 192 
leges were acquired by the Venetians, and to a certain b 
extent by the Genoese and Pisans, in all the principal cities 

of the Byzantine empire, as well as of Syria and Palestine. 
During the fourth crusade, the Venetians obtained possession 
of most of the seaports and islands of the empire, where 
they established colonies; the command of the Black Sea 
securing to their merchants a monopoly of the northern 
trade, and a considerable share in that of Asia. On the c 
re-establishment of the Byzantine government at Constan¬ 
tinople, the Venetians were expelled from the capital, their 
place being occupied by the Genoese ; but this disaster was 
comparatively of little importance, as they were at the same 
time enabled to conclude commercial treaties with the 
Saracens, by which the iEgypto-Indian trade, and a share 
in the commerce carried on by caravans in the interior of 
Africa, were secured to them, together with permission 
to establish settlements on the northern coast of that pen¬ 
insula. 

2. To the overland trade. The commerce of the inte- 193 
rior, which in former days had been for the most part d 
confined to the beaten route from Constantinople to Ger¬ 
many, along the banks of the Danube by Vienna and Ra- 
tisbon, was diverted into various other channels during the 
period of the crusades : a. from the seaports of Italy into 
Germany: b. from the ports of the South of France into 

the interior of that country, as well as into Brabant and 
Flanders. It was not, however, until the following period, 
that this commercial intercourse was fully developed. 

3. To manufacturing industry. Extension to Europe 194 
(to the South in the first instance) of the manufacture of 
silk and cotton stuffs, and the production of sugar, together 
with a more active exportation of European produce to 


96 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [ 195 , 196 . § 42 . 

(194) Greece and the East. Increase of luxury in the cities, a 
a consequence of their manufacturing prosperity. 

C. To the Sciences. 

195 The mass of geographical information was considerably 
augmented by the knowledge of eastern lands, acquired 
through the crusaders, as well as by the accounts of mis¬ 
sionaries (since the thirteenth century), and the travels of 
Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant; but the defective state 
of mathematical science occasioned grievous mistakes re- 

b specting the position of different countries. Historical 
works, for which there was abundant material, began now 
to be written (after the example of the Orientals) in the 
vernacular tongue. Natural history and medicine were 
more generally studied. 

A. The West. 

§ 42. The German empire under Lothar the Saxon. 

(1125—1137.) 

196 Henry V. had nominated as his successors the two sons 
c of his sister Agnes, Frederick and Conrad of Hohenstaufen; 

but, under the influence of the Archbishop of Mainz, the 
choice of the electors fell on Lothar [Lothaire] duke of 
Saxony, who agreed, as the condition of his election, that 
the Church should enjoy the undisputed right of appointing 
her own officers, and that the investiture of bishops by the 
emperor should not take place until after their consecra¬ 
tion. The vacant dukedom of Saxony, and the hand of 
his daughter, were conferred by Lothar on Henry the Proud, 
duke of Bavaria (of the house of Welf [Guelph]), by whose 
aid he defeated Frederick and Conrad of Hohenstaufen, 
and compelled the latter to renounce the title of King of 
{• d Germany. Lothar made two journies to Rome. On the 
first occasion he restored Pope Innocent II., who had been 
expelled from Rome by his rival, Anaclete II., and re¬ 
ceived the imperial crown from his hands, together with a 
grant of the lands of Matilda, margravine of Tuscany, to 
be held as a fief of the Holy See. On the second, he 
expelled Roger II. from Apulia and Calabria; but no 
sooner had he quitted Italy, than the exiled king returned 
to his dominions. 


197 . § 42 .] the german empire. 


97 



197 


F 
























98 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [ 198 , 199 . § 43 . 


§ 43. The German empire under the Hohenstaufen. 

(1138—1254.) 

1. Conrad III. (1138—1152.) 

198 After Lothar’s death, the claims of his unpopular son-in- 
a law, Henry the Proud, who had already possessed himself 

of the crown jewels, were set aside by the electors, whose 
choice fell on a Hohenstaufen, Conrad, duke of Franconia. 
Henry, on being required to resign one of his two duke¬ 
doms, renounced his allegiance, and was placed under the 
ban of the empire; his dukedom of Bavaria being conferred 
on Leopold, margrave of Austria (a half-brother of Con¬ 
rad III.); and Saxony on Albert the Bear (grandson of 
Duke Magnus of Saxony). After Henry’s death, the war 
was carried on by his brother Guelph (his son, Henry the 
b Lion, being still a mere child). The city of Weinsberg, in 
which Guelph had shut himself up, was taken after a long 
siege (in 1140), and the lives of the garrison saved through 
the fidelity of their wives: hence the name of “ Weiber- 
treue” (woman’s fidelity), which the hill still retains. A 
treaty was concluded, by which Saxony was restored to 
Henry the Lion. Conrad was the first king, since Otlio 
the Great, on whose head the? imperial crown was not 
placed by the pope.—For his crusade, see page 89. 

2. Frederick I., Barbarossa (Red-beard). 

(1152—1190.) 

t 

199 Conrad was succeeded by his nephew, his son being still 
c a child. Frederick, who was a Hohenstaufen, or Ghibel- 

line, on the side of his father, and a Guelph on that of his 
mother, endeavoured to reconcile the two houses; and with 
that view restored Bavaria to Henry the Lion (who had 
accompanied him in his first Italian campaign); the Mar¬ 
grave of Austria being indemnified by the elevation of his 
marquisate to the rank of an independent dukedom, here¬ 
ditary in the female as well as the male line. His great 
object was to re-establish the imperial authority, which, in 
Italy especially, had sunk into insignificance during the 
reigns of his predecessors. For this purpose he visited 
Italy six times. 


THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 


99 


200 , 201 . § 43 .] 

First Italian campaign (1154). The city of Milan 200 
having declared itself independent, Henry addressed a a 
letter of remonstrance to the magistrates, which was torn 
in pieces, and thrown into the face of his messenger. On 
entering Italy for the first time, Frederick, although un¬ 
prepared to attack Milan, was able to reduce three other 
rebellious towns (Asti, Chieri, and Tortona). After their 
surrender, he assumed the iron crown of Italy in the city 
of Pavia, and marched at once to Rome, whither he had 
been summoned by Pope Adrian IV., whose subjects had 
been persuaded by Arnold of Brescia to throw off the 
papal yoke, and establish a senate with sovereign authority, 
as in days of yore. Arnold was taken prisoner by Frede- a 
rick, delivered up to the prefect of the city, and hung. 

His body was burnt, and the ashes thrown into the Tiber 
(1155). Frederick now received the imperial crown from 
the hands of the pope, whose stirrup he held previously to 
the ceremony. A terrible disease, which soon afterwards 
broke out among his troops, compelled Frederick to return 
to Germany, where he re-united the Burgundian and Ger¬ 
man kingdoms, by a marriage with Beatrice, heiress of 
Burgundy, compelled the Poles again to pay tribute, and 
elevated the Duke of Bohemia to the rank of king. 

In his second Italian campaign (1158—1162), Frederick 201 
placed Milan (which had been perseveringly enlarging its c 
territories) under the ban of the empire, and laid siege to 
the city. After sustaining great hardships, the Milanese 
signed a capitulation, one of the principal conditions of 
which was, that the election of their magistrates should 
thenceforward be subject to the emperor’s approval. At 
a diet held on the Roncalian plain near Piacenza, the rela¬ 
tions of Italy to the emperor were settled on terms exceed¬ 
ingly advantageous to the latter. Even the Milanese were d 
willing to accept the new constitution, although it deprived 
them of the right secured to them by the capitulation of 
electing their own magistrates, who were thenceforth to be 
nominated by the emperor himself. An attempt on the 
part of the citizens of Milan to re-assert this right, occa¬ 
sioned a fresh war. After a siege of two years, Milan 
surrendered unconditionally; the fortifications of the city 
were dismantled, and the inhabitants, after sustaining fresh 
humiliations, were compelled to establish themselves in 

f 2 


100 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[202 — 205 . § 43 . 

(201) four separate townships. A double election having been 
a made by the college of cardinals, Victor IV., and after his 
death Paschal III., were recognized by Frederick and the 
bishops immediately under his influence, in opposition to 
Alexander III., who was supported by a large majority of 
the priesthood. 

202 In his third visit to Italy (1163) without an army, 
Frederick, who had been excommunicated by Pope Alex¬ 
ander III., endeavoured to allay the discontent occasioned 
by the severity of his functionaries. 

203 In his fourth Italian campaign (1166—1168) he com- 
b pelled the Romans to receive Paschal III. in the place of 

Alexander III., who had fled from the city. Frederick 
and his consort were crowned by the new pope; but soon 
afterwards a frightful pestilence well-nigh annihilated his 
army, and compelled him to re-cross the Alps in disguise, 
and almost alone. The Lombard cities, being unable to 
obtain redress for the cruelties perpetrated by the imperial 
governors, entered into a confederacy, re-established the 
exiled Milanese in Milan, and built a fortress, to which, 
in defiance of the emperor, they gave the name of Alex¬ 
andria. 

204 In his fifth campaign (1174—1178) he was abandoned 
c by Henry the Lion during the siege of Alexandria, and in 

consequence of this defection was compelled, after sustain¬ 
ing a defeat at Legnanoon the Ticino (1176) to conclude 
(at Venice) a peace with Alexander III., and an armistice 
with the Lombards for six years; at the expiration of which 
a formal peace was concluded at Constance. By this 
new treaty the right was confirmed to the emperor of 
appointing magistrates and levying taxes; the cities being 
permitted to retain their own laws and institutions, and to 
continue members of the confederacy which they had formed 
a few years previously. 

205 On his return to Germany, Frederick published the ban 
d of the empire against Henry the Lion (who had neglected 

to appear after being five times cited), gave Bavaria to the 
Count Palatine Otho of Wittelsbach, and West Saxony to 
the Archbishop of Cologne, conferred the dignity of Duke 
of Saxony on Count Bernard of Anhalt, and having sub¬ 
dued Henry after a war of two years, released him from 
the ban, and restored his family estates of Brunswick and 


101 


206, 207- § 43.] THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

Liineburg, on condition of his absenting himself from (205) 
Germany for three years. Henry acceded to these terms, a 
and sought an asylum at the court of his father-in-law, 
Henry II. king of England. 

After holding a brilliant diet at Mainz (1184), at which 206 
his two eldest sons, Henry and Frederick, were admitted to 
the degree of knighthood, Frederick appeared for the sixth 
time in Italy , where he was received with enthusiasm, and 
celebrated in the city of Milan, which had been lately 
rebuilt, the marriage of his eldest son, the Roman King 
Henry, with Constance, daughter of Roger II., and heiress 
of the kingdom of Apulia and Sicily.—For an account of 
his crusade and death, see pages 89, 90. 

3. Henry VI. (1190—1197*) 

Henry, who had governed the empire as regent, during 207 
the absence of his father in the Holy Land, hastened into b 
I taly on receiving intelligence of the death of William II. 
of Sicily, for the purpose of securing the birthright of his 
consort; but the Sicilians, who hated the Germans, had 
already placed on the throne Count Tancred, an illegiti¬ 
mate scion of the Norman royal house. Henry, after 
receiving the imperial crown at Rome, advanced by forced 
marches to Naples, but was soon compelled by the sick¬ 
liness of his troops, and the intelligence which reached him 
of his brother’s death, to return to Germany. The ransom c 
of Richard Coeur de Lion (see page 90), afforded him the 
means of undertaking a second campaign in Italy, where 
all opposition had ceased since the death of Tancred. At 
Palermo, the crown of Sicily was added to the four which 
he already possessed. The discovery of an unsuccessful 
conspiracy furnished the emperor with a pretext for in¬ 
flicting the most terrible punishments on his enemies. 
Tancred’s widow and daughters were thrown into prison, d 
his son William deprived of his eyes, and archbishops, 
bishops, counts, and nobles, put to death by tortures too 
horrible to relate. These acts of cruelty, together with 
his treatment of Richard Coeur de Lion, provoked the 
pope (Ccelestine III.) to pronounce sentence of excommu¬ 
nication on Henry. A plan which he had long cherished, 
of making the imperial dignity hereditary in his family, 
was rendered abortive by the opposition of the nobility, 

f 3 


102 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [208 - 210 . § 43 . 

[207) especially of the higher orders of the clergy. The follow- 
a ing year, during his preparations for the conquest of the 
Byzantine empire, Henry suddenly expired at Messina, to 
the great delight of all the Italians. 

208 Henry the Lion had returned from England to Ger¬ 
many, where he found many adherents ; but all his attempts 
to recover his former possessions ended in disappointment. 
He died at Brunswick, in the year 1195. 

4. Philip of Swabia (1198—1208). 

Otho IV. (1198—1215.) 

209 After Henry’s death, the German nobles were divided into 
b two parties : that of the Hohenstaufen, which supported 

Henry’s youngest brother, Philip of Swabia (Henry’s 
son Frederick being scarcely three years old when his father 
died); and the Guelphic, which chose Otho, second son of 
Henry the Lion. Innocent III. (1198—1216), to whose 
arbitration the disputed election was referred, decided in 
favour of Otho. Philip, who had conferred the hereditary 
sovereignty of Bohemia on Ottocar (1198), and had already 
obtained some advantages over Otho, and entered into 
negociations with the pope, was murdered at Bamberg, in 
the year 1208, by the Count Palatine Otho of Wittels- 
bach, to whom he had promised one of his daughters in 
marriage, and neglected to fulfil the engagement. 

210 The first act of Otho’s reign, after the death of his rival, 
c was to place Otho of VVittelsbach under the ban of the 

empire, and command his assassination. After effecting a 
reconciliation with the house of Hohenstaufen by means of 
a marriage with Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Philip 
of Swabia, Otho visited Rome, and received the Italian and 
imperial crowns; but soon afterwards having involved 
himself in a dispute with Pope Innocent III., through an 
attempt to re-establish the imperial authority in Italy, he 
d conquered Apulia, and attacked the King of Sicily, who 
happened to be the pope’s ward. Innocent immediately 
excommunicated him, and invited the German nobles to 
confirm their former election of Frederick, the only sur¬ 
viving prince of the house of Hohenstaufen, who was 
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1215. Otho, who pre¬ 
viously to this event had been defeated by the French king, 


THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 


103 


211 . § 43 .] 

Philip Augustus, at Bovines, in Flanders (where he was (210 
assisted by his ally, King John of England), was compelled a 
to retire to his hereditary estate of Brunswick, where he 

died (at Harzburg) in 1218. 

% 

5. Frederick II. (1215—1250.) 

On his accession, Frederick had promised the pope, 211 
(1) that thenceforward the German and Sicilian crowns 
should be disunited; and (2) that he would undertake a 
crusade. Both these engagements were violated : the first, 
by his nominating his son Henry (to whom he had resigned 
the kingdom of Sicily) to be his successor on the German 
throne, and causing him to be crowned Roman king in 1222 ; 
and the second (which he had renewed at his coronation), 
by his deferring the crusade until the year 1227, the inter¬ 
vening time being occupied in arranging the affairs of his 
hereditary estates. On his return from Palestine, Frede- b 
rick found Apulia in the occupation of the papal troops; 
and having re-conquered that province, effected a recon¬ 
ciliation with the pope, through the intervention of Her¬ 
man of Salza, grand master of the Teutonic order, and 
thoroughly reformed the legal code of his hereditary domi¬ 
nions, he re-visited Germany, where his son Henry had 
raised the standard of rebellion during his absence. Henry 
was taken, solemnly disinherited at Mainz, and thrown into 
prison, where he remained until his death, in 1242. At c 
the same diet, Frederick conferred on Otho [the Child] the 
allodes of his father, to be held thenceforward as the here¬ 
ditary duchy of Brunswick Liineburg, with succession in 
the female as well as the male line. After proclaiming a 
general peace throughout Germany, the emperor re-visited 
Italy, for the purpose of chastising those Lombard cities 
which had taken part with his eldest son, leaving the 
second, Conrad, to administer the affairs of the kingdom 
during his absence. Having reduced all the cities to sub- d 
mission with the exception of four, and obtained a decisive 
victory at Cortenuova (1237) by the aid of his general, 
Ezzelino Romano, Frederick summoned the Milanese to 
surrender at discretion, but was prevented from attaining 
his object, by a misunderstanding with Pope Gregory IX., 
in consequence of the elevation of the emperor’s natural 

f 4 


104 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 212 — 214 . § 43 . 

(211) son, Enzio, to the throne of Sardinia, of which the sove- 
a reignty was claimed by the holy see, as a part of St. Peter’s 
patrimony. 

212 Sentence of excommunication was passed on Frederick; 
but the endeavours of the pope to place a rival on the 
imperial throne were unsuccessful. About the same time, 
Russia and Poland were overrun by the Mongols, who 
penetrated as far as Silesia, and defeated the army of 
Henry the Pious, duke of Lower Silesia, at a place called 
from this engagement Wahlstatt, or the battle-field. 
Then they marched through Moravia and Hungary, and 
after sustaining a defeat somewhere in Austria, retired to 
the steppes, whence they had originally sallied forth. 

213 In the same year, Gregory IX. died, at the age of one 
b hundred years. In the year 1243, Pope Innocent IV. fled 

to Lyons, where he called together a general council, and 
solemnly deposed the emperor and his'son Conrad. The 
bishops then elected the Landgrave Henry Raspe of 
Thuringia (1246), whose elevation to the throne by the 
votes of the clergy, without the consent of the temporal 
electors, procured him the nick-name of the “ Parsons’ 
King” (der Pfaffenkbnig). The usurper obtained some 
advantages near Frankfort; but died in the following year 
at the Wartburg, in consequence of wounds received in an 
c engagement in the neighbourhood of Ulm. The choice of 
the three Rhenish archbishops then fell on Count William 
of Holl and, who was also supported by one of the tem¬ 
poral electors, the King of Bohemia. Leaving his son 
Conrad to oppose the usurper in Germany, Frederick, in 
conjunction with his natural son Enzio (who was taken 
prisoner in a bloody engagement near Fossalta), and his 
general, Ezzelino Romano, resumed the war in Lombardy, 
which continued with various success until his death (at 
Firenzuola, near Luceria), in 1250. 

6. Conrad IV. (1250—1254.) William (1256). 

214 After sustaining a defeat at Oppenheim, Conrad quitted 
d Germany, where the mendicant friars were preaching a 

crusade against him, and sought an asylum in Apulia, 
which was occupied by the forces of his illegitimate bro¬ 
ther Manfred. He died in 1254, leaving behind him one 


105 


215—217. § 44, 45.] the two sicilies. 

son, named Conradin, an infant of two years old. Almost (214) 
the only public act of William of Holland was the giving a 
his sanction to a confederacy which had been formed by a 
number of towns on the Rhine about the time of his own 
election. He was slain in a frozen morass, by the inha¬ 
bitants of Friesland, from whom he had attempted to extort 
tribute. 

§ 44. The interregnum in Germany (1257—1273). 

So distracted was the empire at this period of our history, 215 
that no native prince would suffer himself to be put in B 
nomination as William’s successor: the choice, therefore, 
of the electors fell on two foreigners, Richard of Corn¬ 
wall (w'ho obtained the majority of votes), and Alfonso 
of Castille. The former, who was crowned at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, visited Germany four times. After his death, in 
1272, Alfonso, who had never quitted Spain since his elec¬ 
tion, was set aside by the electors, and Count Rudolph, of 
Habsburg, raised to the imperial throne, in 1273, chiefly 
through the influence of the Archbishop of Mainz. 

§ 45. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1130—1282). 

a. Under the Normans (1130—1194). The immediate 216 
successors of Roger II., founder of the kingdom of the Two c 
Sicilies (see § 25, d), and conqueror of the northern coast 

of Africa, from Tunis to Tripoli, were William I., surnamed 
the Bad, w f ho lost the possessions of the Sicilian crown in 
Africa; and William (II.) the Good. The legitimate suc¬ 
cessors of the latter were Constance, daughter of Roger II., 
and her consort, the emperor Henry VI.; but the throne 
w^as usurped during a period of five years, by Tancred, a 
natural son of Roger II., and his son William III. 

b. Under the Hohenstaufen (1194—1266). Henry I. 217 
(VI.) was succeeded by his son Frederick I. (II.) a child d 
of three years old, who w T as placed under the guardianship 

of the pope. This sovereign transferred the royal residence 
from Palermo to Naples (where he founded a university), 
and gave the nation a new r code of laws, most of which 
were borrowed from the ancient Norman constitutions. 

All peculiar jurisdictions were abolished, and thus a check 

f 5 



106 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 218 — 220 . § 46 . 

(217) was given to the progress of immorality and luxury. His 
a son Conrad IV. left behind him one son, named Conradin, 
a minor, whose guardian, Manfred, assumed the crown 
without the sanction of his feudal sovereign the pope. On 
receiving intelligence of this proceeding, Urban conferred 
the kingdom on Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis 
of France. In the year 1266, a battle was fought near 
Benevento, in which Manfred lost his life. 

218 c. Under the house of Anjou (1266—1282). The ad- 
b herents of Manfred fled to Germany, and joined the army 

of Conradin, who entered Italy accompanied by his friend 
Frederick of Austria, and after sustaining a defeat at 
Tagliacozzo, or Scurcola, in the neighbourhood of Alba 
(August 23), was taken prisoner and executed (with his 
companion) in the market-place of Naples (1268). On 
the scaffold he bequeathed his claims to Peter III. of 
Arragon, Manfred’s son-in-law. The flames of discontent, 
kindled by the insolence and tyranny of Charles of Anjou, 
burst forth on Easter-Monday, 1282, during the Vesper 
service at Palermo (the Sicilian vespers), when all the 
Frenchmen in the island were massacred, and the crown of 
Sicily placed on the head of Peter of Arragon, Charles still 
retaining the kingdom of Naples. 

§ 46. France (1108—1270). 

219 5. Louis (VI.) the Fat (1108—1137). The gradual 
c abolition of serfdom, and the formation of free guilds, or 

companies (communes) in the cities, contributed in no 
small degree to the consolidation of the sovereign authority, 
and the depression of the powerful vassals of the crown. 
Normandy was still held by the King of England as a 
French fief, in spite of three attempts made by Louis VI. 
to restore Robert, duke of that country, who had been 
deposed and imprisoned by his brother, Henry I. 

220 6* Louis VII. (1137—1180) was persuaded by the 
d Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to take part in the second 

crusade (see page 89), during which the affairs of his 
kingdom were well administered by the Abbot Suger. On 
his return, Louis divorced his wife Eleonora, heiress of 
Poitou, Guienne, and Gascony, who immediately married 


FRANCE. 


107 


221 . § 46 .] 

Henry, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou. Two (220), 
years later, on the accession of this prince to the English a 
throne, the whole western half of France was annexed to 
England. 

7. Philip II. (1180—1223), surnamed Augustus (on 221 
account of his conquests), quarrelled with Richard Cceur 
de Lion during the third crusade, and made an unsuccess¬ 
ful attempt on the English possessions in France. On the 
other hand, Richard’s successor, John (surnamed Lack- 
land), whom Philip had in vain cited to appear before the 
chamber of peers at Paris, and clear himself from the 
charge of having murdered his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, 
was compelled to relinquish all his French fiefs except 
Guienne. By the consolidation of these fiefs, the crown of 
France obtained an influence infinitely greater than that 
possessed by its vassals individually. King John having b 
quarrelled with the pope respecting the election of an 
Archbishop of Canterbury, Innocent III. excommunicated 
him, and invited Philip II. to take possession of England. 

An arrangement was subsequently effected, by which John 
consented to hold his territories as a fief of the see of 
Rome ; but, notwithstanding this change in the aspect of 
affairs, Philip, who had obtained a victory at Bovines over 
John and his allies (the Emperor Otho IV. and the Count 
of Flanders), sent his son Louis into England, whence he 
was expelled at the end of a year. During the progress of c 
these events a fierce civil w r ar was raging in the south of 
France, where the Albigenses (a designation common to 
several sects which had arisen in that quarter of the king¬ 
dom, especially in the province of Albigeois, towards the 
close of the twelfth century) had refused to recognize 
either the spiritual or secular authority of the pope, and 
placing themselves under the protection of Count Rai- 
mond VI. of Thoulouse, had destroyed several churches 
and ill-treated the clergy. Sentence of excommunication d 
having been passed on the count by Pope Innocent III., 
and preachers sent forth to proclaim a crusade against the 
heretics, the cities of Beziers and Carcassonne were laid in 
ashes (1209), the inhabitants butchered without distinction 
of age or sex, and the greater part of Languedoc overrun 
by the crusaders. Origin of the “ pairs de France” (six 
temporal, viz. the dukes of Normandy, Guienne, and Bur 

f 6 





108 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [222,223. § 46. 

(221) gundy, the counts of Thoulouse, Champagne, and Flanders; 
a and six spiritual, viz. the Archbishop of Rheims and five 
bishops); and of appeals from the baronial courts to the 
king. 

222 8. Louis VIII. (1223—1226) undertook a fresh cru¬ 
sade against the Albigenses and Raimond VII., and died 
before its termination. 

223 9. Louis IX. (St. Louis, 1226—1270), the most pious 
prince of the middle ages, commenced his reign under the 
guardianship of his mother, Blanche of Castille, and termi¬ 
nated the Albigensian war in 1229, by concluding a peace 
with Raimond VII., who was compelled to cede a portion 
of his dominions to the crown, and bequeath the remainder 

b to his son-in-law, a brother of the king. The Albigenses 
were exterminated partly through the vigilance of the 
recently-established inquisition, and the exertions of the 
Dominican preachers, and partly by actual violence.—For 
his first crusade, see page 92. A permanent peace with 
England was established by the restoration of four pro¬ 
vinces south of the Charente to Henry III., who, on his 
part, consented to abandon his claims to all other portions 
of the French territory formerly possessed by England, 
and to take the oath of feudal allegiance to Louis; after 
which he was enrolled among the peers of France, as duke 
c of Guienne. For the preservation of peace at home, all 
private feuds were strictly forbidden, wager of battle 
abolished on the estates belonging to the crown, the rights 
of the Church secured by a pragmatic sanction, and the 
baronial jurisdictions gradually subjected to the royal 
courts, which were duly supplied with advocates.—For 
his second crusade and death, see page 92. 








224—228. § 47.] 


ENGLAND. 


109 


§ 47. England (1066—1272). 

t 

a. Under Norman kings (1066—1154). 

William I. f 1087- 224 

Robert, William II. Henry I. Adelaide, 

Duke of Normandy. f 1100. f 1135. mar. Stephen, 

,- A -^ Count of Blois. 

Matilda, , - -a_^ 

mar. 1. The Emperor Henry Y. Stephen, 

2. Geoffrey Plantagenet, King, fll54. 

Count of Anjou. 

i --\ 

Henry II. fll89. 

1. William (I.) the Conqueror (1066—1087), in-225 
troduced the feudal system into England, and divided the b 
conquered territory into 60,215 portions, of which 14,000 
were retained by the crown, and 20,215 conferred on the 
clergy, who were bound, no less than the temporal barons, 

to render military service for their fiefs. As the best 
security for the stability of his usurped throne, William 
filled all the great offices of state with Normans, intro¬ 
duced the French language into the courts of law and 
schools, and published an exact register of the lands of 
England, which still exists, under the title of Domesday 
Book. 

2. William (II.) Rufus (1087—1100), succeeded his 226 
father on the English throne, to the exclusion of his elder c 
brother Robert, who inherited the dukedom of Normandy, 
and joined the crusaders. 

3. Henry I. (1100—1135) seized on the crown during 227 
the absence of his elder brother in Palestine, and on his 
return robbed him also of Normandy, which was united to 
England in 1106. Robert was deprived of his eyes, and 
died in prison. A charter, by which the severity of the d 
feudal constitution was in some degree qualified, was 
granted by Henry to the nobility and the city of London. 

The recognition by the nobility of Henry’s daughter Ma¬ 
tilda, and her second husband Geoffrey Plantagenet, intro¬ 
duced the principle of female succession into England ; but 
Henry having died in Normandy, a rival candidate for the 
throne appeared in the person of 

4. Stephen of Blois, who was defeated by the forces 228 











110 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [229 - 231 . § 47 . 

(228) of Matilda near Lincoln, thrown into prison, and only per- 
a mitted to retain the crown during his life, on condition of 
nominating Matilda’s son Henry as his successor. 

b. Under the four first kings of the house of An¬ 
jou or Plantagenet (1154—1272). 

229 1. Henry II. (1154—1189) inherited Normandy from 
his mother, and Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, from his 
father; and held Guienne and Poitou (see § 45) in right 
of his wife. The attempts of Henry to subject (by the 
constitutions of Clarendon) ecclesiastics to the jurisdic¬ 
tion of the temporal courts in matters purely secular, and 
to restrain the practice of appealing to Rome, were de¬ 
feated by the pertinacity of Thomas a Becket, archbishop 
of Canterbury, who was murdered in his own cathedral by 

b four noblemen. To satisfy the people, Henry did penance 
at the archbishop’s tomb. Ireland, which w r as distracted 
by intestine feuds, was conquered in 1172, and the King of 
Scotland compelled to take the oath of vassalage to the 
crown of England. Henry died of grief, occasioned by 
repeated acts of rebellion, committed at the instigation of 
his consort, by his two sons, who were abetted in their 
treason by the King of France. 

230 2. Richard Coeur de Lion (1189—1199) sold his 
c feudal supremacy over Scotland, passed three years in 

Palestine, and two in a German prison, and lost his life 
before a fortress during a war which he had undertaken 
against France, in consequence of the support afforded by 
that power to his rebellious brother John. 

231 3. John (surnamed Lackland) (1199—1210) was 
deprived of all his French fiefs, except Guienne, as a 
punishment for the murder of his nephew, Arthur of Brit¬ 
tany, whose claims to the English crow n were supported by 

d Philip Augustus. About the same time, John was excommu¬ 
nicated by Pope Innocent III. (in consequence of a dispute 
respecting the nomination of an archbishop of Canterbury), 
and the sovereignty of England offered to the King of 
France (compare § 46). Having effected a reconciliation 
with the pope, by consenting to hold his kingdom as a 
fief of the Holy See, John made an unsuccessful attempt to 
abrogate the charter of English liberty (Magna Charta 


ENGLAND. 


Ill 


232. § 47.] 

libertatum), which his insurgent barons had forced him (231) 
to sign in 1215, and soon afterwards died of fever, occa- a 
sioned by the fatigue of a precipitate flight. 

4. Henry III. (1216—1272) was only ten years of age 232 
when he ascended the throne. Prince Louis of France, 
who had assumed the title of King of England, in con¬ 
sequence of the pope’s invitation (compare page 107), was 
defeated by the Earl of Pembroke (Henry’s guardian) near 
Lincoln, and also in a naval engagement, and compelled 
to renounce his claims. Scarcely, however, was Henry 
securely seated on the throne, when his incapacity mani¬ 
fested itself in the injudicious selection of his generals and 
ministers, and the favour shown to foreign adventurers, 
as well as in the oppression of his own subjects, notwith¬ 
standing his assurances (renewed during a period of thirty 
years, on the occasion of every fresh subsidy) that their 
privileges should be respected. The discontent excited by b 
his weakness and treachery burst forth at last in an insur¬ 
rection of the barons (1258, headed by Henry’s brother- 
in-law, Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester). Henry was 
compelled to assemble a parliament at Oxford, and commit 
the administration of his kingdom to a council composed of 
twenty-four barons. An attempt on the part of the king c 
to resume the reins of government, occasioned the battle of 
Lewes (1264), in which Henry (with his brother, Richard 
of Cornwall, king of Germany) was taken prisoner, and 
forced to purchase his freedom by consenting to re-establish 
the council of barons. The haughty demeanour of Leices¬ 
ter offended the barons ; but, on the other hand, the favour 
of the people was conciliated by his calling to the parlia¬ 
ment two knights from each county, and two burgesses as 
representatives of each town, thus laying the foundation of 
a H ouse of Commons. Meanwhile Edward, the heir- d 
apparent to the throne, had assembled the adherents of the 
king, and marched to Evesham, where a battle was fought 
in 1265, in which Leicester was slain, and the baronial 
aristocracy completely crushed. The result of this victory 
was the re-establishment of peace between the king and 
his people.—For an account of the termination of the dis¬ 
putes with France, by a peace with Louis IX., see page 108. 


112 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [233 — 235. § 48, 49. 


§ 48. Spain. 

233 1. The kingdom established by the Arabians in Spain 
a remained until the end of this period (1269) in close con¬ 
nexion with the empire of Morocco; but the Moorish 
power, both in Africa and in the peninsula, had been gra¬ 
dually declining since the defeat of their forces at Tolosa 
(1212), by the united armies of the kings of Arragon, 
Castille, and Navarre. In Spain especially, Christianity 
had gradually obtained a preponderance over Islamism, 
through the acquisition of provinces, which had either been 
re-conquered from the unbelievers, or conferred by them 
as fiefs on the native princes. 

234 2. Christian Spain, a. The kingdom of Leon and 
b Castille (compare § 33, 2) was divided by Alfonso VII. 

into two sovereignties (1157), which were re-united by 
Ferdinand the Saint (1230), and augmented by the addi¬ 
tion of several Moorish provinces (Cordova, Estremadura, 
Murcia, Jaen, and Seville), the conquest of which was 
principally achieved by the knights of the three Castilian 
orders (Alcantara, Calatrava, and St. Jago de Compostella), 
established towards the middle of the twelfth century. 
His son Alfonso X. (surnamed the Wise) was elected 
c King of Germany (compare § 44). b. Navarre was again 
separated from Arragon, and continued to be an indepen¬ 
dent kingdom until 1284, when it was annexed to France. 
c. On the other hand, Barcelona, the Balearic isles, and 
the kingdom of Valencia, were added to the kingdom of 
Arragon , the first through the marriage of Count Raimond 
of Barcelona with the heiress of Arragon, and the others 
by the sword of James I., surnamed the Conqueror. 
d Pedro III., son of this monarch, whom Conradin imme¬ 
diately before his execution had nominated heir of his 
claims to the Neapolitan throne, became King of Sicily 
after the Sicilian vespers. 

§ 49. Portugal. 

235 About the time of the first crusade (1096), Alfonso VI., 
of Castille, granted to his brave son-in-law, Henry, duke 
of Burgundy (great-grandson of Hugh Capet), the whole of 
the territory between the Minho and Douro, which derived 


THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 


113 


236. § 50.] 

its name of Portugal from the city of Porto 1 . The capital (235) 
was Coimbra. Alfonso I., who had been enabled to extend a 
the boundaries of his infant kingdom by a victory over the 
Arabians at Ourique (1139), assumed the title of king (for 
the recognition of which he engaged to pay a yearly tribute 
to the pope), obtained a constitution for his new kingdom 
from the Cortes of Lamego, and with the assistance of some 
English and North-German crusaders, wrested Lisbon from 
the infidels. Alfonso III. further enlarged the kingdom 
by the conquest of Algarves in 1253. 

B. The East. 

§ 50. The Byzantine empire. 

1. Under the Comneni and Dukas (1157—1185). 236 
The soldiers, weary of their dependence on the two prin- b 
cesses (compare § 34), had placed their comrade Isaac 
Comnenus on the imperial throne; but the newly-elected 
emperor was soon compelled by bodily infirmity to resign 
his crown and retire into a monastery. A friend of his 
house, named Constantine Dukas, was then invested with 
the purple, which he bequeathed to his wife (Eudocia), to be 
held in trust for his three sons, subject to the condition that 
the empress should remain unmarried. Scarcely, however, c 
had seven months expired, when Eudocia, disregarding her 
lord’s injunctions, bestowed her hand on her general, Roma- 
nus Diogenes, who was defeated and taken prisoner in a war 
with the Seldschuks. After a short captivity Diogenes was 
generously set at liberty by his conquerors, and returning 
home, found his wife imprisoned in a convent, and the throne 
in possession of Michael VII. (eldest son of Constantine 
Dukas), who defeated him and put out his eyes. The d 
greater part of Asia Minor had been already wrested from 
the empire by the Seldschuks (hence the Sultanate of 
Iconium, or Rum), and the whole of Lower Italy by the 
Normans, when the Comneni again ascended the throne. 

Three emperors of that house, each distinguished for his 
bravery, viz. Alexius Comnenus, his son Kalo- 
Johannes, and grandson Manuel (whose unit(d reigns 
occupied 100 years, 1081—1180), resisted manfully the 
encroachments of the Seldschuks in the east, the Normans 

[' Called by us, O Porto, “ the port/’] 


114 THE MIDDLE AGES. [237-239. § 51. 

(236) in Lower Italy, and the Petschenegens and Cumanes in 
a the north, notwithstanding the feebleness to which the 
empire had been reduced by the corruption of the court 
and the struggles of party. Manuel’s son, Alexius II. (a 
minor) was murdered after a short reign by his guardian, 
Andronicus, whose cruel reign of three years w'as ter¬ 
minated by an insurrection of Isaac Angelus, a colla¬ 
teral relation of the Comneni, who had been condemned to 
suffer an ignominious death. 

237 2. Under the house of Angelus (1185—1204). 
The weak Isaac Angelus, w r ho had been unable to 
prevent the revolt of the Bulgarians and the loss of 
Cyprus, w 7 as set aside by his brother Alexius III., who 

b put out his eyes and threw him into prison. The fourth 
crusade, as it w r as called, was undertaken by the Vene¬ 
tians and French, for the purpose of replacing him on 
the throne, from which he was a second time deposed (see 
page 90). 

238 3. The Latin empire (1204—1261). For an ac¬ 
count of this empire, as well as those of Nicaea and Trebi- 
zond, see page 91. 


§ 51. The Arabians. 

239 The Caliphate of the Abbasides was extin- 
c guished in the year 1258 by the Mongols, wdio stormed 
Bagdad (the only city still possessed by the caliphs), and 
for seven days deluged its streets w T ith blood. Motazem, 
the fifty-sixth and last caliph, was sewn up in a cow’s hide, 
and dragged by the conquerors through the streets of his 
capital. The descendants of Prince Hakim, who escaped 
the general destruction, continued to exercise a spiritual 
supremacy in Egypt (without any admixture of secular 
authority) until the conquest of that country by the Turks 
d in 1517. Of the African dynasties, the Aglabides and 
Edrisides had become extinct during the preceding period; 
the Fatimides in Egypt were overthrown by Nureddin; and 
the Morabethes, who had founded the empire of Morocco and 
conquered the south of Spain, were expelled by the Almo- 
hades (whose supremacy terminated in 1269). The wdiole, 
therefore, of Arabian Africa was now shared by three re¬ 
cent dynasties (the Abuhassians, Merinides, and Zianides), 


115 


240,241. § 52,53.] Arabians, seldschuks, &c. 

who had already from time to time obtained possession of (239) 
particular portions. 

§ 52. The Seldschuks. 

About fifty years before the commencement of the cru- 240 
sades, a nomadic Turkish tribe, named the Seldschuks, a 
under the command of their Sultan Togrul Beg, a grand¬ 
son of the Turkish Emir Seldschuk, conquered all the 
countries between the Oxus and Euphrates, and having 
established their head-quarters at Bagdad (where their 
leader enjoyed the dignity of emir al Omrah), made them¬ 
selves also masters of Syria and Asia Minor. After the b 
death of their third sultan (Malek) in 1092, the mighty 
empire, which in its palmy days extended from the frontier 
of China to the Mediterranean, and from Samarcand to the 
southern coast of Arabia, after a succession of civil wars, 
was split into five small governments, which during the 
crusades fell into the hands of other Turkish hordes. The 
kingdom of Iconium alone continued to exist, although 
in a state of dependence on the Mongols, until the thir¬ 
teenth century. 

§ 53. The Mongols. 

The Mongols, a nomadic tribe closely connected with 241 
the Huns, who inhabited the trackless plains stretching c 
southwards from Siberia to the greater Bucharia and the 
Desert of Kobi, in the year 1206 conferred the title of 
Dschingis-Khan (i. e. Khan of Khans), on Temud 
Schin, the son of a khan. Under the command of this 
chieftain, they conquered a portion of northern China, 
expelled Mohammed, sultan of the Chowaresmians 
(whose dominions extended from India to the Cas¬ 
pian Sea), invaded Russia, and overthrew the Prince of 
Kiev (on the Kalka). Under the four sons of Dschingis- d 
Khan (among whom the empire of Kiev was divided), 
the whole of northern China fell into the hands of the 
Mongols, who then overran Russia, Poland, Silesia (where 
they were victorious in the bloody battle of Wahlstadt, 
compare page 104), Moravia, and Hungary, and entering 
Austria, sustained a defeat, which compelled them to re¬ 
trace their march through Asia Minor,—a measure which 
was rendered still more necessary by the death of their 


116 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[242—245. § 54. 

(241) great khan. In the year 1258 they took Bagdad, and put 
a an end to the dynasty of the Abbasides. Towards the 
end of the thirteenth century, the empire of the Mongols, 
which now included Thibet and southern China, had reached 
its widest limits, extending from the wall of China to the 
frontier of Poland, and from India to Siberia. The resi¬ 
dence of the great khan was at Pekin. The administration 
of the provinces was committed to inferior khans, of the 
race of Dschingis-Khan ; the most powerful of whom were 
the khans of Kaptschak on the Wolga and Dschagatai in 
Turkestan. 


C. The North-East of Europe. 

§ 54. Scandinavia. 

242 1. Iceland remained independent until nearly the end 
b of this period (1261?), when it became a province of 

Norway. In no country were the ancient Scandinavian 
manners, language, and literature so little affected by the 
influence of western Europe, of which scarcely any traces 
are discernible, except in the ecclesiastical constitution of 
the island. 

243 2. In Norway, the dynasty of the legitimate descend¬ 
ants of Harald Harfagr expired in 1103, with Magnus III., 
whose natural children threw the whole kingdom into 
confusion by their contests for the crown. Iceland and 
Greenland were annexed to Norway, and the Hebrides 
sold to Scotland. 

244 3. Sweden, like Norway, was distracted during this 
c period by factions and civil wars, occasioned not so much 

by disputed successions, as by the antagonism which sub¬ 
sisted between the Gothic and Swedish races, as well as 
between the Christians and heathens. The frequent result 
of these disputes was the division of Norway into two 
kingdoms, at first into a Christian and heathen, and sub¬ 
sequently into a Gothic and Swedish. 

245 4. In Denmark, which comprehended also southern 
d Sweden, or Schonen, the reigning family was that of the 

Estrides, who conquered the island of Riigen, as well as 
the whole line of coast from Esthonia to Holstein, together 
with the towns of Liibeck and Hamburg. The whole of 
this conquered territory, with the exception of northern 


RUSSIA —POLAND. 


117 


246,247. § 55, 56.] 

Esthonia, was afterwards surrendered by Waldemar II. to (245) 
the Count of Schwerin, as the price of his liberation from a 
prison. Since the abandonment of voyages to England, the 
intercourse between the two countries had given place to 
an intimate connexion with Germany (especially after the 
conquest of the south-eastern shores of the Baltic), which 
produced an imitation of German institutions, especially as 
regarded the creation of orders of chivalry, and the establish¬ 
ment of regulations for the government of their cities. 

§ 55. Russia. 

Besides the two grand principalities of Kiev and Vladi- 246 
mir, there existed no less than fifty of inferior note. In b 
the year 1238, the whole of Russia was occupied (after the 
victories on the banks of the Kalka and at Sita) by the 
Mongols, who burnt the cities of Vladimir, Moscow, and 
Kiev. Novgorod alone (which had been a distinct prin¬ 
cipality since 1137) retained its independence, and became 
in 1267 one of the commercial stations of the Hanseatic 
league. The grand principalities were permitted to re¬ 
main, their rulers engaging to pay tribute to the Mongols. 
During this period of dependence, the grand prince of c 
Vladimir (Jaroslav) conquered Finland, and his son Alex¬ 
ander, prince of Novgorod, and afterwards of Vladimir, 
obtained a brilliant victory over the Swedes on the banks 
of the Neva. Hence his surname of Nevskoi. 

§ 56. Poland under the Piasts. 

During this period Poland, which had again become a 247 
dukedom, and now comprehended Silesia and eastern Po¬ 
merania, with its capital Dantzic, improved rapidly under 
the influence of German civilization, notwithstanding the 
wars in which she was engaged with the wild tribes on her 
northern and eastern frontiers, and the civil commotions 
occasioned by the partition of the dukedom among the 
four sons of Boleslav III. The new sovereignties were— d 
1. Cracow and Silesia; 2. Great Poland; 3. Masovia 
and Cujavia ; 4. Sendomir and Lublin. In addition to his 
dukedom of Cracow and Silesia, the eldest exercised a sort 
of feudal supremacy over the others. Conrad, duke of 
Masovia, being too feeble to withstand the attacks of the 
Prussians, called in the knights of the Teutonic order, who 
were rewarded for their services with a grant of the ter¬ 
ritory of Culm. The invasion of Poland and Silesia by the 


118 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [248—250. § 57-59. 

a Mongols, although of short duration, occasioned fearful 
havoc, but no actual loss of territory. 

§ 57. Prussia. 

248 The Prussians, a half-civilized horde, inhabiting the line 
of coast from the Vistula to the Niemen, not only resisted 
successfully the attempts of the Poles to reduce them to 
submission, under pretence of converting them to Chris¬ 
tianity, but becoming themselves the aggressors, compelled 
Conrad, duke of Masovia, to apply for assistance to the 
“ Brethren of the Sword” (an order originally established 
in Livonia), and subsequently to the knights of the Teutonic 
B order. After an obstinate struggle, in which they were 
supported during a period of fifty-three years (1230— 
1283) by crowds of adventurers from Pomerania, Austria, 
and Brandenburg, the Teutonic knights became masters of 
Prussia, where they founded the cities of Thorn, Marien- 
werder, Elbing, &c., and introduced German civilization. 
The government of the conquered territory was administered 
by a provincial master, until the establishment of the order 
itself at Marienburg, in the year 1309. 

§ 58. Hungary under the Arpads. 

-dll Ladislav the Saint (see § 39) was succeeded by fifteen 
c kings of the Arpadic family, which became extinct in 1301. 
During the whole of this period the Hungarians were en¬ 
gaged in wars with German kings and dukes, with Venice, 
the revolted maritime cities of Croatia and Dalmatia, with 
the Byzantine emperors, the Bohemians, Poles, and Rus¬ 
sians, and in domestic feuds occasioned partly by disputed 
successions, and partly by insurrections of the nobles, who 
compelled King Andrew II. (after his return from Syria) 
i> to grant them a charter, called “ the Golden Book.” But 
the heaviest calamity of all was the terrible invasion of the 
Mongols, in 1241. Bela IV., who then occupied the 
throne, was compelled to seek an asylum in Dalmatia; 
but on his return he exerted himself manfully to restore 
the prosperity of his kingdom, which had been well-nigh 
depopulated by the war. 

§ 59. Religion , Arts , Manufactures , fyc. during the Third 

Period. 

250 1. The Church. The attempts of Gregory VII. to 

exalt the spiritual above the temporal power were followed 
up by his successors, particularly by Urban II., Paschal II., 


119 


250. § 59.] RELIGION, ARTS, &C. 

Innocent III. and IV., and towards the end of this period (250) 
produced not only the complete emancipation of the Church a 
from secular control, but the elevation of the pope to the 
rank of supreme judge over all temporal princes, whose 
crowns were placed at his absolute disposal. At the same b 
time, the ecclesiastical authority of the popes was strength¬ 
ened—I. By assemblies of the Church, in which term are 
comprehended, (1) oecumenical councils, convoked and pre¬ 
sided over by the pope himself; (2) synods held annually 
at Rome; and (3) provincial synods summoned by the 
pope’s legates. II. By sending legates with unlimited 
powers to all the countries of Europe. III. By the esta¬ 
blishment of an appeal to Rome from the sentences of 
metropolitans and bishops. IV. By an unscrupulous exer¬ 
cise of the right of suspending refractory sovereigns, or 
placing their kingdoms under an interdict. The monastic c 
system was also greatly enlarged: 1. By the establish¬ 
ment of the three religious orders of chivalry in Pales¬ 
tine, of three similar orders in Spain, and of the order 
of Knights of the Sword in Livonia (1199). 2. By 

the creation, from time to time, of fresh orders, with 
more stringent rules of discipline, a. The Praemonstra- 
tenses (founded by S. Norbert of Xanten, at Premontre, 
near Laon). b. The Trinitarians, c. The Carmelites (on 
Mount Carmel), d. The Dominicans, or Preachers (founded 
by S. Dominic, a Spaniard), especially for the conversion 
of heretics in the south of France, e. The Franciscans 
(founded by S. Francis, of Assisi). The rules of the three 
s last enjoined poverty, in the strictest sense of the term. 

All attempts to re-unite the Greek and Latin churches d 
were fruitless; but, on the other hand, the Maronites, and, 
to a certain extent, the Armenians, were reconciled to the 
Church of Rome. The teaching of Peter Abelard, his dis¬ 
ciple Arnold of Brescia, and other schoolmen of the twelfth 
century, produced a variety of sects —the Cathari in Ger¬ 
many and Italy: the Waldenses, or Vaudois (founded by 
Peter Waldus, a rich merchant of Lyons) ; and the Albi- 
genses, in the south of France, which united towards the 
end of the twelfth century, and were supported by many of 
the temporal nobles in their resistance to their bishops. 

For the suppression of these heresies ' crusades were preached, 

1 [V It is beyond a doubt that many of these sectaries f the Cathari, Picards, 

Paterins, and Albigenses] owed their origin to the Paulicians.”-“Those who 


120 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[251. § 59. 

a and the court of inquisition established, subject at first to 
the authority of the bishops, but at a later period almost 
exclusively under the control of the Dominicans. 

251 2. Political Constitution. The distinguishing cha¬ 

racteristic of this and the following period is the spirit of 
political communism which pervades every relation of 
life, and manifests itself in the establishment of orders of 
chivalry, Hanseatic leagues among merchants, guilds and 
companies of handicraftsmen, universities and their nations, 
bands of mercenary soldiers, unions of architects and 
b painters, &c. Two of the most important results of this 
spirit are—1. Chivalry , the germ of which may be found 
in the practice of the ancient Franks (among whom the 
horse-soldier was highly esteemed), but for its develop¬ 
ment it is indebted to the military exercises at the courts 
of the German kings, and the combats of the Christians 
c with the Moors in Spain. Since the establishment of the 
feudal system, it had been the custom for proprietors of 
the larger estates to serve on horseback ; and this union of 
persons, pledged to the performance of the same duties, 
soon assumed the form of a distinct order of chivalry, which 
spread, by means of the crusades, over the east as well as 
the west; its character being of course modified by the 
various circumstances of the countries in which it was 
d established. The degrees of chivalry were— (a) The page 
(from seven years old to fourteen), who was raised to the 
rank of (5) Esquire, and declared capable of bearing arms, 
by the delivery of a sword. The esquire was dubbed (c) a 
Knight (generally in his twenty-first year) by the blow of a 
sword on his shoulder. The chief duties of knighthood 
were protection of the Church, widows, and orphans; 
maintenance of personal honour, even at the cost of life ; 
and a courteous and modest demeanour towards ladies 
(galanterie). For the faithful performance of these duties, 
the knight was rewarded with the approbation of mankind, 
and the panegyrical strains of minstrels. The most splen¬ 
did exhibition of chivalry was the tournament,—a develop- 

are absolutely free from any taint of Manichaeism are properly called Waldenses ; 
a name perpetually confounded in later times with that of Albigenses, but dis¬ 
tinguishing a sect probably of separate origin, and at least of different tenets.” 

-“These pious and innocent sectaries [the Waldenses], of whom the very 

monkish historians speak well, appear to have nearly resembled the modern Mo¬ 
ravians.” “ The Waldenses were always considered as much less erroneous in 
their tenets than the Albigenses or Manichasans.”— Hallam, vol. iii. p. 46.] 



121 


251, § 59.] RELIGION, ARTS, &C. 

ment of the ancient military exercises, which assumed a (251) 
more systematic character towards the end of the twelfth a 
century, and soon became popular in every country of 
Europe, For the union of chivalry and monasticism, see 
p. 119.—2. The establishment and development of a free 
and privileged Burgher order throughout the whole of what 
was once the Carlovingian empire, (a) especially in Upper 
and Central Italy, where, during the disputes respecting the 
right of investiture, all affairs of police, finance, and ex¬ 
ecutive government in the cities, had been administered by 
civic magistrates, with the consoles communis at their head. 

At a diet held on the Roncalian plain during the second b 
campaign of Frederick I. in Italy, the supremacy of the 
emperor was established, and imperial lieutenants (podesta) 
appointed to execute his decrees ; but the misconduct of 
these officers soon occasioned their removal, and the ap¬ 
pointment of civic podesta. At a later period, even the 
handicraftsmen claimed a share in the government, which 
until that time had been entirely in the hands of the patri¬ 
cians, and compelled the authorities to sanction the appoint¬ 
ment of a capitano del popolo, who became thenceforward 
the opponent of the podesta. Whenever it was requisite c 
that the contending parties should act in Concert, the 
supreme political authority (signoria) was placed for a 
definite period in the hands of some neighbouring prince, 
or renowned leader (condottiere). All these free cities 
adopted the Roman code, and a system of indirect taxation. 

( b ) In Germany, especially in the times of Frederic II. and 
the interregnum, the cities, partly by purchase and partly 
by the strong hand, became possessed of similar though 
less extensive immunities, such as immediate dependence 
on the empire, self-government, the right of coining money, 
imposing taxes, and holding markets, with various com¬ 
mercial privileges, and free trade to a certain extent. The d 
conservation of these privileges was entrusted to a burgo¬ 
master, assisted by a college of counsellors, until the four¬ 
teenth century, when the guilds, or trades-unions, seem to 
have taken forcible possession if not of all, at least of the 
most important civic offices, (c) In France, political 
privileges w'ere granted to the cities by the nobility and 
clergy, either for a pecuniary consideration, or because 
they had sagacity enough to perceive that their own pros- 

G 


122 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[252, 253. § 50. 

51) perity was closely interwoven with that of their vassals. 
a (d) In Arragon, the executive authority w r as shared by royal 
and civic functionaries. In the north and east of Europe, 
towards the middle of the thirteenth century, cities were 
founded after the model of those in the west, or civic 
privileges granted to existing communities. It w : as only, 
however, in the maritime cities of Upper Italy that the 
attempt to emancipate themselves from the authority of 
their feudal sovereign was entirely successful. In Ger¬ 
many, especially, the imperial cities remained subject to the 
b emperor, and the others to the great nobles. Delegates 
from the cities appeared at diets first at Barcelona, then in 
Italy, and at a later period in England. 

252 3. Legislation and legal practice. The written 
codes of this period w'ere either abstracts of existing law's com¬ 
piled by command of princes, or the works of private indivi¬ 
duals, which in process of time were recognized as public 
documents; such, for example, as the Lombardic feudal 
code and the Saxon and Swabian mirrors (Sachsenspiegel and 
Schw'abenspiegel), the former for Northern, and the latter 

c fcr Southern Germany: or they were charters granted by 
kings to their subjects, e. (j. the Charta Magna Libertatum 
of King John, and the Charter of Andrew II. of Hungary. 
The compilation of civil codes was also common during 
this period. Towards its conclusion the judicial combat 
and the ordeal fell into disuse, but the practice of torturing 
suspected persons became more frequent, and the punish¬ 
ments inflicted on criminals more cruel and sanguinary. 

253 4. During this period the sciences, the study of w'hich 
had hitherto been confined to the cloister, began to be 
cultivated by laity as w r ell as clergy, under the auspices of 
the spiritual and temporal princes, whose object was greatly 
promoted by the increased number of schools and the 

D establishment of universities. The most ancient of these 
foundations owe their origin to the assemblages of young 
persons, who flocked to the theological and philosophical 
schools of Paris, where Abelard lectured, and to the 
schools of jurisprudence at Bologna, in which the principles 
of the Roman law w'ere expounded by Irnevius. The 
pupils and teachers formed a privileged corporation, or 
universitas, with peculiar jurisdiction. After the model 
of these two universities (at which the other sciences began 


254. § 59.] RELIGION, ARTS, &c. 123 

gradually to be taught), establishments were formed during (253) 
this period at Padua, Naples, Thoulouse, Salamanca, Fer- a 
rara, Oxford, and Cambridge. The scholastic mode of 
treating theological subjects, which had been introduced by 
Lanfranc and Anselm (f 1143), was pursued by Abelard 
(whose dogmas were condemned as heretical by St. Bernard) 
and by his disciple Peter Lombard, whose manual of 
theology w r as used as a text book for more than 300 years. 

In the thirteenth century, the discovery of the metaphysical, 
physical, and ethical works of Aristotle (his Logic having 
been the only one of his treatises hitherto studied) laid the 
foundation of philosophical scholastics, in which Albertus 
(count of Bollstadt) Magnus (f 1280), his disciple, Thomas 
Aquinas (*]~ 1274), and Duns Scotus ('f 1308) especially dis¬ 
tinguished themselves. Next to theology and philosophy the b 
canon and Roman laws w ere most zealously studied. His¬ 
tory , in central and western Europe, was written in Latin, 
until the time of Geoffroy and Joinville, two Frenchmen, who 
published the first historical work in the vernacular tongue. 
Mathematical science was learnt from the Arabian writers or 
from Arabic translations of Greek treatises. The most cele¬ 
brated student in this department, and in chemistry, w'as 
Roger Bacon (f 1294). Mechanics were brought to great c 
perfection during the erection of the noble buildings of this 
period. The use of the mariner’s compass was also dis¬ 
covered. Byzantine literature was confined to historical 
w r orks (Anna Comnena, Joh. Zonaras), critical expositions 
of the ancient Greek writers (Homer, by Eustathius), and 
treatises on jurisprudence and theology. Among the 
Arabians , Averroes w^as distinguished as a philosophical 
writer, Abulfaradsh as a historian, and Geber as a mathe¬ 
matician. 

5. Art. 254 

{a) The poetry of this period w^as deeply imbued with d 
the romantic spirit of the crusades and of chivalry. In 
Germany e pic and lyric poetry attained their highest degree 
of excellence under the patronage of the Hohenstaufen. 

The productions of the former were of three sorts: 1. 
Original German compositions (the Nibelungen Noth, and 
other poems) ; 2. Imitations of northern French works 
(legends of Charlemagne, Arthur, and the Knights of the 
Round Table) or of Provei^al romances ; 3. Poetical ver- 

g 2 


124 THE MIDDLE AGES. [255, 256. § 59. 

(254) sions of ancient myths. The most distinguished professors 
a of lyric poetry were the Minne-singers; Henry von Val- 
deck, Hartmann von der Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach, 
Walter von der Vogelweide, &c. “The war on the Wart- 
burg ” is a curious specimen of the poetical contests of 
those days. In the south of France , Provencal minstrelsy 
was cultivated successfully during an entire century by the 
Troubadours, who recited their compositions at the courts 
of the counts of Thoulouse, Provence, &c., whilst in the 
north , epic (principally the chivalrous romance, the contes 
and fabliaux), and at a later period didactic, allegoric, and 
lyric poetry flourished in the hands of the Trouveres. 
The minstrelsy of the Troubadours travelled from Provence 
b to the east of Spain and Lombardy. In Castille the ex¬ 
ploits of the Cid furnished a fruitful subject for romance. 
In the north, Scandinavian poetry was cultivated with con¬ 
siderable success, especially in Ireland, where the mythic 
songs of the ancient Scalds and innumerable Sagas were 
brought together in the older and more recent Edda. 

255 ( b ) The German or new Gothic style of architecture , 
with its characteristic features, the pointed arch, slender 
column, and elegant tracery, was imported from England by 
brotherhoods or unions of architects (freemasons’ lodges), 
and attained its highest perfection in the thirteenth century. 

c The most magnificent specimens of this style of architecture, 
such as the minsters of Strasburg (begun in 1018) and 
Friburg, the church of St. Stephen at Vienna (1140), the 
domes of Magdeburg and Cologne (1248); in France, the 
cathedrals of Rouen, Rheims, and Amiens ; in England, 
St. Peter’s at York, and Westminster Abbey in London ; 
and in Spain, the cathedrals of Burgos and Toledo, were 
at least commenced in this century. Secular buildings of 
every description, such as bridges, palaces, council-houses, 
monasteries, &c., were also erected at an enormous cost of 
labour and money. 

256 (c) Of the other arts, those were especially cultivated 
d which contributed to the embellishment of churches, cast¬ 
ing in bronze , for instance, and painting on glass , which was 
invented in the eleventh century, and had now attained 
great perfection. Sculpture and painting w'ere not elevated 
to the rank of independent arts until the thirteenth century 
(the former by Nicolo Pisano, f 1270, and the latter by 


125 


257. § 59.] RELIGION, ARTS, &C. 

Cimabue, 1249 —1300). Companies or unions of painters a 
were also formed in the thirteenth century. 

0. Commerce.— (a) Maritime trade,(ad) in the Mediter¬ 
ranean, was carried on, for the most part, hy Genoa, Venice, 257 
and Pisa, and also by Marseilles and Barcelona, with the 
sea-ports of the Holy Land and Syria, the northern coast of 
Africa, Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor, and the Byzantine 
empire. For the trade of the Venetians and Genoese out 
of Constantinople, see page 95. (bb) The commerce of 
the north of Europe flourished principally in (a) northern 
Germany, including Liibeck, Bremen, and Hamburg ; (/3) 
in the Netherlands, especially in the cities of Ypres, b 
Bruges, and Ghent, where Germans, Frenchmen, and 
Italians, were accustomed to meet for purposes of trade; 

(y) in the island of Gothland, with its capital Wisby, the 
general emporium of the commerce carried on by German, 
Norman, and Sclavonian adventurers in the Baltic, and 
thence overland by Novgorod into the interior of Russia. 

(b) The chief stations of the inland trade were Ratisbon, 
Vienna, Troyes, Lyons, Beaucaire, Augsburg, Nurnberg, 
Frankfort on the Main, and Cologne. The natural result 
of a commercial league between the cities of Southern 
Germany (Ratisbon, Zurich, Augsburg, and Strasburg), and 
the Italian towns of Genoa and Venice, was an active in¬ 
terchange of merchandize through the passes of the Alps. 
Even among merchants, especially those of Germany, the c 
spirit of the age manifested itself in the formation—1. Of 
several Hansas, or unions of commercial men, in one or 
more cities, for the promotion and protection of their trade 
with foreign countries, in which they obtained various pri¬ 
vileges, and were permitted to erect warehouses and halls 
for the transaction of their business (e. g. the merchants of 
Cologne and other cities in the Netherlands enjoyed a 
monopoly of the trade with England, and had a Guildhall in 
London). 2. Provincial unions, especially of cities in the d 
south of France and north of Germany, for the conservation 
of peace within the district over which their commerce ex¬ 
tended. Out of these two elements was formed in the fol¬ 
lowing century the great German Hansa. During this period, 
the enactments respecting maritime enterprise and commerce 
consisted, for the most part, of letters-patent granting 
privileges to particular unions or places. The Church 

g 3 


126 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[258, 259. § 60. 

(257) raised her voice in vain against commercial intercourse 
A with the Mahometans, but was more successful in her 
efforts to suppress the slave-trade. 

258 7. Manufactures, &c. Agriculture flourished during 

this period under the protection of the Treuga Dei, and 
derived considerable advantage from the establishment of a 
free peasant order during the crusades, and the settlement 
of Netherlander in north-eastern Germany. The cultiva¬ 
tion of the vine was eminently successful in the south of 
France and Christian Spain, and mining operations in 
B Bohemia and Moorish Spain. The importance of manual 
crafts was greatly augmented by the establishment of 
guilds, or companies, the freemen of which dwelt in the 
same street or quarter of the city, and exposed their wares 
for sale on rows of benches or in halls. The manufac¬ 
ture of cloth flourished chiefly in Flanders, Upper Italy, 
Germany, and the south of France; that of silk, in 
Italy ; of leather, in Moorish Spain ; of paper, in Italy 
and Spain. The best articles of hardware, especially 
swords, were produced in the Netherlands, Upper Italy, 
c and Moorish Spain. The trade in glass was almost 
monopolized by Venice. Commercial prosperity was 
greatly promoted by the establishment of annual fairs, the 
erection of warehouses and depots, and the invention by 
the Lombards of bills of exchange. 


Fourth Period, 

From the termination of the Crusades to the discovery of America, 

1273—1492. 

A. The West. 

§ 60. Germany and Switzerland. 

Geographical view of Germany between the 
years 1300 and 1500. 

259 1. The seven electorates, a. Three archbishoprics :— 

d viz. Mainz, Treves, and Cologne. b. Four temporal 
principalities: viz. 1, the Palatinate (cap. Heidelberg); 
2, Saxony (Wittenberg) ; 3, Bohemia (Prague), with 

Moravia and Silesia ; 4, Brandenburg (Brandenburg). 



GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 


260. § 60.] 


127 


2. The Duchies, a. In the west:—1. Lorraine (cap. (259) 

Nancy) ; 2, Liitzelburg or Luxemburg (Luxemburg), a 

with the county of Saarbriicken ; 3, Limburg (Limburg), 
Brabant (Brussels) ; 4, Cleves (Cleves), with the counties 

of Mark, Juliers, and Berg (Diisseldorf) ; 5, Guelderland. 
h. In the south: — 1, Wiirtemberg (Stuttgart); 2, Bavaria 
(Munich); 3, Austria (Vienna), with Styria and Carniola ; 

4, Carinthia. c. In the north:—1, Brunswick-Liineburg; 

2, Holstein ; 3, Lauenburg ; 4, Mecklenburg (Schwerin 
and Stargard) ; 5, Pomerania. 

3. The Principalities —Nassau and Anhalt. b 

4. The Margravate of Baden. 

5. The Landgravates —Alsace, Hesse, and Thuringia. 

6. The Burgravate of Niirnberg. 

7. Several Counties (Holland, Hennegau, Flanders, 
Namur, &c.) 

8. The Archbishoprics (exclusive of the three spiritual 
electorates), Salzburg, Magdeburg, and Bremen. 

9. Several (21) Bishoprics. 

10. The (95) free imperial cities. Of these the most con- c 
siderable were :— a. In Franconia—Spires, Worms, Mainz, 
Frankfort, Wetzlar, Erfurt. b. In Bavaria—Niirnberg 
and Ratisbon. c. In Swabia—Ulm and Augsburg, d. 

In Alsace—Strasburg. e. In Lorraine—Metz, Treves, 
Cologne, Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle, Diiren. f. In 
Saxony — Dortmund, Magdeburg, Bremen, Hamburg, 
Liibeck. 

The kingdom of Burgundy, after its dismemberment, 
was divided between France and the Dukes of Burgundy. 


A. Kings of different houses, 1273—1347. 

1. Rudolf of Habsburg (1273—1291). As early as 260 
the beginning of the thirteenth century, the right of election d 
to the throne of Germany had been transferred from the 
ancient dukes, or popular leaders, to the great officers of 
the imperial household: viz. 1, the Archbishop of Mainz, 
as Arch-Chancellor of the German empire ; 2, the Arch¬ 
bishop of Treves, as Arch-Chancellor of the kingdom of 
Arles ; 3, the Archbishop of Cologne, as Arch-Chancellor 
of the kingdom of Lombardy ; 4, the Count Palatine of the 
Rhine, as Grand-Sewer ; 5, the Duke of Saxony, as Grand 

g 4 


128 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[201,262. § 60. ' 

(260) Marshal; 6, the King of Bohemia, as Grand Butler ; 7, the 
a Margrave of Brandenburg, as Grand Chamberlain. After 
the death of Richard of Cornwall, the electors, on the 
motion of the Archbishop of Mainz, chose Rudolf of 
Habsburg, a nobleman of very moderate political in¬ 
fluence. The ambassador of Bohemia having been 
excluded from the hall of election, his master Ottocar 
refused to recognize Rudolf; and being placed under the 
ban of the empire, was compelled to relinquish his claims 
to the sovereignty of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Car- 
niola ; and in a second war was defeated and slain on the 
b Marchfeld (1278). Rudolf granted Carinthia to Count 
Mainhard of the Tyrol, and the three remaining prin¬ 
cipalities to his sons Albert and Rudolf. Ottocar’s son, 
Wenceslaus, was allowed to retain Bohemia and Moravia. 
From this period the grand object of the German kings 
seems to have been to establish hereditary power in their 
families. 

261 2. Adolphus of Nassau (1291—1298), a cousin 
c of the Archbishop of Mainz, was placed on the throne 

through the influence of his kinsman, and in order to 
strengthen the interests of his family, purchased Thuringia 
and Meissen from the Landgrave, Albert the Degenerate, 
whose sons, Frederic with the Bitten Cheek, and Diezman, 
refused to recognize the compact. In the war which 
ensued, such fearful barbarities were perpetrated by Adol¬ 
phus, that three of the electors, who were already disgusted 
at his breach of faith, declared the throne void, and chose 
Albert of Austria, a son of Rudolf I. Adolphus was 
killed in the battle of Gelheim, near Worms. 

262 3. The choice of the electors, which had fallen on 
d Albert I. of Austria (1298—1308), during the lifetime 

of Adolphus, was now confirmed by a second election. His 
plans for the aggrandizement of his house, and for render¬ 
ing the imperial dignity hereditary in the family of Habs¬ 
burg, were unsuccessful; nor was he more fortunate in the 
revival of his claims to the sovereignty of Thuringia. 
The extinction of the ancient royal family in Bohemia 
afforded him an opportunity of placing his son Albert on 
the throne of that country ; but this connexion was soon 
dissolved by the death of the new sovereign, and the elec¬ 
tion of the Duke of Carinthia by the Bohemian people. 


263,264. §60.] Germany and Switzerland. 129 

The three forest cantons of Switzerland, Schwyz, Uri, (262) 
and Unterwalden (which had voluntarily placed them- a 
selves under the protection of the empire), having resisted 
an attempt of Albert to render them hereditary possessions 
of his own family, were grievously oppressed by the impe¬ 
rial governors Herman Gessler of Bruneck and Be rin¬ 
ger of Landenberg(?) The conspiracy of Werner 
Stauffacher of Schwyz, Walter Fiirst (of Attinghausen 
in Uri), and Arnold Melchthal of Unterwalden, with 
thirty confederates, including the renowned William Tell, 
laid the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy (1307). 
Gessler was shot dead by an arrow from the bow of Tell, b 
and Landenberg defeated by a stratagem, and expelled the 
country. In the midst of his preparations for a Swiss cam¬ 
paign, Albert was assassinated in Aargau by his nephew 
Duke John (Parricida), from whom he had unjustly with¬ 
held his portion of the Habsburg estates. 

4. H enry VII., of Luxemburg (1308—1313), a 263 
brave and experienced warrior, was chosen by the electors 

on the motion of the Archbishop of Mainz. The attempts 
of Henry to extend the influence of his family were more 
successful than those of his predecessors, Bohemia having 
been made a fief of his house by the marriage of his son 
John with the heiress of that kingdom. A succession of c 
victories enabled him to enter Rome in triumph, and place 
on his head the imperial crown, thus restoring the empire, 
which had been in a state of abeyance for sixty-two years. 

He was on the point of attacking the King of Naples, the 
head of the Guelphic party, when death put an end to his 
ambitious projects. 

5. Louis IV., the Bavarian (1313 —1347), and Fre- 264 
derick of Austria (1313—1330), the former chosen by d 
the Luxemburg, the latter by the Habsburg party. The 
house of Habsburg engaged in hostilities with the Swiss, 
who defeated Frederick’s brother, Duke Leopold of Austria, 

at Morgarten (1315), and with the rival king at Miihl- 
dorf (1322), where Frederick was defeated and taken 
prisoner (by Schweppermann). A reconciliation was after¬ 
wards effected (at Trausnitz) between the two kings, who 
shared the throne until the death of Frederick, in 1330. 

After the battle of Muhldorf, Louis had sent an army into 

g 5 


130 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[265. § 60. 

(264) Ttaly to assist the Ghibellines against the Guelphs, the 
a devoted adherent of the pope, and was in consequence 
excommunicated by John XXII. (at Avignon), his king¬ 
dom placed under an interdict, and the German crown 
offered to France. In defiance of this sentence, Louis 
marched to Milan, where he was crowned King of Lom¬ 
bardy, and then proceeding to Rome, received the imperial 
crown from the hands of the capitano del popolo, and 
placed a rival pope, Nicholas V., on the papal throne. 
b Finding himself, however, too feeble to maintain his autho¬ 
rity in Italy, he returned, after the death of Frederick, to 
Germany, where the electors, after endeavouring without 
success to effect a reconciliation between the pope and 
emperor, assembled the first electoral diet at Rense 
(from which the King of Bohemia alone was absent), and 
declared the empire independent of the popedom , swearing 
at the same time to maintain the privileges of the emperor 
and their own rights. Louis increased the possessions of 
his family by—1, granting the March of Brandenburg as a 
fief to his son Lewis, after the extinction of the Ascanian 
family ; 2, annexing the Tyrol to his hereditary dominions, 
by the marriage of his son Lewis with the Countess Margaret 
c Maultasch. In this instance he usurped the authority of 
the pope, by himself divorcing Margaret from her husband 
(John Henry of Bohemia), and granting a dispensation for 
marriage within the third degree of consanguinity; 3, by 
seizing on the counties of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, 
and Hennegau, as lapsed fiefs of the empire, and conferring 
them on his wife (a sister of the Count of Holland, who 
had died without issue). The unconstitutional annexation of 
the Tyrol so disgusted the nobles of Germany, that the pope 
found little difficulty in persuading five of the electors to 
declare the throne vacant, and elect (in 1346) Charles, son 
d of John, king of Bohemia. The Bohemian party, on the 
death of Louis in the following year, elected Count Gun¬ 
ther of Schwartzburg, who contested the possession of the 
crown until his decease in 1349, when Charles was univer¬ 
sally recognized as King of Germany. 

B. Kings of the house of Luxemburg. 

265 1. Charles IV. (1347—1378.) After receiving the 


265. § 60.] GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 131 

imperial crown, through his ambassador, from the hands of (265) 
the pope, Charles devoted his chief attention to the re- a 
moval of the evils necessarily attendant on the ill-defined 
form of election to the imperial throne which had hitherto 
been adopted. For the promotion of this object, he pub¬ 
lished (at the diets of Niirnberg and Metz, in 1356) a 
document termed the golden bull, in which the mode 
of election, the rights of the electors, and the terms on 
which peace was thenceforth to be maintained in Germany, 
were definitively settled. By this constitution it w r as pro- b 
vided, that within three months of the death of an emperor, 
the Archbishop of Mainz, as arch-chancellor, should sum¬ 
mon the seven electors to hold a new election, the result of 
which should be decided by a plurality of votes : that the 
coronation of the sovereign should take place at Aachen ; 
the electors should hold the first rank among the dignita¬ 
ries of the empire, and their territories be indivisible. All 
the other efforts of Charles were directed to the aggran¬ 
dizement of his hereditary kingdom of Bohemia, to which, 
under various pretences, he contrived to annex the March 
of Brandenburg, Silesia, the two Lusaces, and a portion of 
the Upper Palatinate. In pursuance of his plan, he also c 
founded the first German university at Prague (1348), 
which soon numbered from 5000 to 7000 students, in¬ 
creased the number of convents and churches, promoted 
commerce, agriculture, and mining, effected an improve¬ 
ment in the framing and administration of the laws, and de¬ 
molished the robber-castles. The funds necessary for these 
improvements were, obtained by granting extensive privi¬ 
leges to the imperial cities, in return for large sums of 
money, or equivalent advantages. The most important of 
these privileges were, the right of self-taxation, forming 
alliances, and making war and peace; exemption from all 
external jurisdiction and inviolability. During his reign, d 
the influence of the aristocratic order was augmented by 
the addition of five new dukedoms, viz. Mecklenburg, 
Luxemburg, Bar, Liege or Liittich, and Berg; and the 
number of confederacies of towns increased to five, viz. the 
German Hansa, now at the summit of its power, the con¬ 
federacy of the seven Frieslandic maritime districts, the 
Rhenish, Swiss, and Swabian confederacies; besides 
those of the nobility (the order of St. George, in Swabia; 

g 6 


132 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[266, 267. § 60. 

a the associations of the Lion and Falcon, &c.). Charles 
was succeeded by his eldest son, the Roman king, 

266 2. Wenzel, or Wenceslaus (1378—1400), who re¬ 
tained Bohemia and Silesia, to which the dukedom of Lux¬ 
emburg was added after the death (without issue) of his uncle 
Wenzel. His brother Sigismund received Brandenburg as 
his portion. The cities and knights having renewed and 
strengthened their confederacies, and a union of the three 
estates, princes, knights, and cities, having been formed in 
Swabia, under the auspices of Count Eberhard of Wiirtem- 
berg, Wenceslaus, in order to maintain his influence, esta¬ 
blished a general union in southern Germany, and placed 

b himself at its head. A plan was already in progress for 
establishing a confederacy of the entire empire, when the dis¬ 
putes between the nobles and cities occasioned a war, which 
terminated in the defeat of the cities (near Doffingen and 
Worms in 1388). Wenzel now took part with the victorious 
nobles, dissolved the confederacies of the cities, and pro¬ 
claimed a general peace. About the same time the Swiss 
confederation (which had been recently strengthened by the 
accession of Lucerne, Zurich, Glarus, Zug, and Bern) 
defeated their oppressor Leopold of Austria, near Sem- 
pacli (1386), chiefly through the patriotic self-sacrifice of 
c Arnold of Winkelried. A second victory, obtained 
in 1388 over the duke’s sons at Nafels, secured to the 
Swiss the undisturbed possession of their conquests. The 
capricious tyranny exercised by Wenceslaus in Bohemia, 
where he constantly resided, and his utter indifference to 
the interests of the empire, rendered him an object of 
universal contempt. He was at length imprisoned by his 
brother Sigismund, and set aside by the three spiritual 
electors, who chose the Count Palatine Rupert as his 
successor (1400); but the recognition of this prince was 
by no means universal. 

267 3. Wenzel and Rupert (1400—1410). An attempt 

d to force his way through Italy to Rome ended in defeat, 

and lost Rupert the confidence of the nation. On his 
return to Germany he endeavoured to restore order by 
measures of extreme severity, which were vehemently 
opposed by a confederacy of nobles and cities. After his 
death a double return was made by the electors, one party 
choosing Wenzel’s brother Sigismund, Margrave of Bran- 


133 


268. § 60.] GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 

denburg, and by marriage King of Hungary; the other (267) 
giving their votes to his cousin Jobst (Jodacus), Margrave a 
of Moravia. Germany had now three kings; but Jodacus 
dying a few months after his election, Sigismund remained 
undisputed occupant of the throne. 

4. Sigismund, universally recognized from 1410 to 268 
1437. The great object of his reign was the extermina¬ 
tion of schism. For nearly forty of the seventy years 
during which the popes had been resident at Avignon, it 
had been the practice of the Roman and French colleges of 
cardinals to elect each its own pope. A council held at b 
P isa in 1409, instead of suppressing, increased this irregu¬ 
larity, by deposing both Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII., 
and recognizing Alexander V., and after his death 
John XXIII. as sovereign pontiff; but the previously 
elected popes refusing to resign, there were now three rival 
claimants to the papal throne. For the removal of these c 
irregularities, a general council was summoned by the 
emperor (and pope?) to meet at Constance in 1414. The 
council was divided, for the convenience of voting, into 
four nations—the Italian, French, German, and English, to 
which were afterwards added five votes of the Spaniards. 

Its three principal objects were (1) The entire suppression 
of schism. This was attained by the removal of the three 
rival popes. Benedict XIII. and John XXIII., who had 
fled from Constance, were deposed; Gregory XII. abdi¬ 
cated voluntarily. A new pope, Martin V., was then 
elected. (2) The extirpation of heresy. The writings of d 
the Oxford theologian, John Wickliffe, who had attacked 
not only the system of monachism and the supremacy of 
the pope, but the doctrine of transubstantiation and other 
dogmas of the Church, had been brought to Prague by a 
Bohemian nobleman, Hieronymus, or Jerome, Faulfisch 
(commonly called Jerome of Prague), who had studied at 
Oxford. The Bohemian theologians, who were for the 
most part realists, in opposition to the German nominalists 1 , 
eagerly embraced doctrines which accorded so well with 

1 The realists maintained that universal or general ideas of things 
were objective , i. e. independent of the human understanding ; the nomi¬ 
nalists, that they were subjective, i.e. existent only in the mind .—Note 
by the Translator. 


134 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 268 . § 60 . 

68) their own system. Among their professors was John 
A Huss, who wrote against indulgences, notwithstanding the 
repeated prohibitions of the Archbishop of Prague and the 
pope. Huss appeared before the council, and in direct 
violation of a safe conduct granted to him by Sigismund, 
was condemned as a heretic, and delivered up to the empe¬ 
ror, who commanded him to be burnt, and charged the 
elector palatine with the execution of the sentence. His 
friend, Jerome of Prague, at first recanted, but subsequently 
withdrew his recantation, and suffered the same punish- 
b ment. ( 3 ) A thorough reform of the Church. This plan 
almost entirely miscarried through the dissensions of the 
different nations ; a few only of the more pressing demands 
being met by concordats with each nation separately. 
The Hussite war ( 1420 — 1436 ). The disciples of 
Huss (who had also adopted the opinion of Professor 
Jacob of Miess, that the Holy Communion ought to be 
administered in both kinds to the laity) chose Huss’s liege 
lord, Nicholas of Hussinecz, to be their leader, and de¬ 
manded of Wenceslaus permission to celebrate their service 
c in all the churches. This being refused, they assembled 
on a mountain, to which they gave the name of Tabor, 
placed themselves under the command of a brave knight 
named John Ziska, and stormed the council-house of 
Prague. In the midst of these disorders, Wenceslaus died 
of apoplexy, and was succeeded in his hereditary domi¬ 
nions by his brother Sigismund. The opposition of the 
Hussites to their new sovereign was even more violent 
than it had been to his predecessor, because it was to him 
that they attributed the murder of their master, Huss. The 
d pope commanded the preaching of a crusade against them ; 
but the Hussites (although divided after Huss’s death into 
four parties, viz., the Taborites, Orphans, Horebites, and 
Pragueites) maintained their position in the mountains, 
until they had extorted from the council of Basle permis¬ 
sion to receive the Holy Communion in both kinds, it being 
at the same time distinctly taught that its reception under 
one form was equally efficacious. The embarrassments in 
which Sigismund was involved, compelled him not only to 
pledge and alienate many of the privileges and possessions 
of the empire, but even to sell his own hereditary margra- 


135 


269, 270. § 60.] GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND. 

vate of Brandenburg, with its electoral dignity, to the Bur- (268) 
grave Frederick of Niirnberg, for 400,000 ducats (in the a 
year 1415). 

C. Kings of the house of Austria (from 1438). 

1. Sigismund was succeeded on the German throne, as 269 
well as in Bohemia and Hungary, by his son-in-law, Albert 

of Austria (1438, 1439), who revived the question of 
the division of Germany into circles, which was again 
brought forward by his cousin and successor, 

2. Frederick III. (1440—1493), who undertook the 270 
guardianship of Ladislaus, the infant son of Albert II. b 
B ut the want of unanimity among the nobles rendered such 

a measure impracticable, and also prevented, at a sub¬ 
sequent period, the accomplishment of a plan for the esta¬ 
blishment of an imperial chamber ofjustice. Proclamations, 
it is true, were issued from time to time, strictly enjoining 
peace throughout the empire; but the feuds of her nobles 
still continued to exhaust the energies of Germany. In c 
conjunction with Zurich (which had quarrelled with Schwyz 
respecting the county of Toggenburg), Frederick, at the 
head of an army of French mercenaries, the Armagnacs, 
entered Switzerland, in the hope of recovering the Austrian 
provinces which had been wrested from Leopold, but was 
compelled, after sustaining two defeats, to confirm the con¬ 
federates in the possession of the conquered territory. The 
council of Basle, which had attempted to reduce the power 
and revenues of the papal see, was vehemently resisted by 
Pope Eugenius IV., who summoned another council to 
meet at Ferrara. In consequence of this proceeding, the d 
council of Basle elected a rival pope (Felix V.); but the 
conclusion of the concordat of Aschaffenburg, or Vienna, 
by Frederick II. (through his private secretary iEneas 
Sylvius Piccolomini, afterwards Pius II.) with Pope 
Nicholas V., the successor of Eugenius IV., restored to 
the pope most of the rights of which he had been deprived 
by the council, which soon afterwards dissolved itself, and 
also persuaded its creature, Felix V., to abdicate. A cru¬ 
sade against the Turks, who had taken Constantinople, and 
now threatened the western empire, was in vain proclaimed 
by the pope and emperor. Frederick, the last emperor 


136 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 271 . § 61 . 

(270) who received the imperial crown at Rome, increased his 
a hereditary possessions by (1) sharing with his brother 
Albert the dukedom of Austria, vacant by the death of the 
young Ladislaus (son of Albert II.). After his brother’s 
death, Frederick became sole duke of Austria; but the 
Bohemians and Hungarians elected two native kings, the 
former George Podiebrad, and the latter Matthias Cor- 
vinus, both of whom successfully resisted the attempts of 
the emperor to reduce them to submission. In the year 
1485, Corvinus took possession of Austria, which he 
b retained until his death (in 1490). (2) But the most im¬ 

portant acquisition of territory was that of the Netherlands 
and Burgundy, by the marriage of his son Maximilian with 
Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy 
(1477). The possession of these territories was success¬ 
fully maintained by Maximilian in a war with France. 

§ 61. The States of Italy. 

A. In Upper Italy. 

271 1. Venice, which had been raised by the crusades to 

c the rank of a first-rate commercial and naval power, and 
possessed most of the islands and maritime towns of the 
Byzantine empire, was engaged for 125 years in a war 
with Genoa (1256—1381) respecting the trade of the 
Black Sea. At the end of that period, a peace was con¬ 
cluded at Turin, on terms advantageous to Venice. The 
most palmy days of the republic were in the first half of 
the fifteenth century, when a monopoly of the Indian trade, 
by w>ay of Egypt, was secured to her by a treaty with the 
Sultan of Egypt, an increase of territory obtained in Upper 
Italy and Dalmatia (partly by treaties and partly by con¬ 
quests), and the islands of Corfu and Cyprus added to her 
D possessions. Most of these Greek dominions were after¬ 
wards w’rested from them by the Turks; and the discovery 
of a new passage to the East Indies destroyed their mono¬ 
poly of the Indian trade, and completed their ruin. The 
sovereign authority was in the hands of a great council of 
480 members, who at first were chosen annually by the 
people out of the entire body of citizens, but at a later 
period (1297) the right of sitting in the council being con- 


THE STATES OF ITALY. 


137 


272 — 274 , § 61 .] 

fined to the actual members and their families, an hereditary a 
aristocracy was created. 

2. In Milan, the struggle between the Ghibelline no- 272 
hies, headed by the family of Visconti, and the Guelphic 
burghers, supported by the family of Della Torre, was 
terminated by Henry VII., who expelled the Torre, and 
nominated Matteo Visconti imperial lieutenant (vicar) of 
Milan (1310). The conquest of several neighbouring cities 
enabled Visconti to increase the possessions of his house, 
which under John Galeazzo Visconti (who obtained the 
grant of an hereditary dukedom from Wenceslaus) was 
owner of almost the whole of Upper Italy. After the b 
extinction of the male line of the Visconti, the supreme 
authority was conferred on Francesco Sforza, a mercenary 
soldier in the Milanese service, who made the dukedom 
hereditary in his family. 

3. The republic of Genoa acquired some maritime 273 
towns and considerable commercial advantages in con¬ 
sequence of the restoration of the Greek empire. The 
conclusion of a struggle of 200 years with Pisa, placed at c 
their disposal the greater part of Corsica and Sardinia ; 
but their long war with Venice, and still more their own 
intestine feuds, so weakened them, that they were com¬ 
pelled to submit sometimes to Milanese, sometimes to 
French domination. 

B. In Central Italy. 

1. In Florence the people, or guilds, after a long strug- 274 
gle with the nobles, obtained the ascendancy, conquered the 
neighbouring districts, and divided themselves into three 
classes, viz. higher and lower guilds, and commons, i. e. 
persons not belonging to any guild. The members of the d 
higher guilds were, generally speaking, bankers; hence 
arose an aristocracy of wealth, headed in the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury by the rich and powerful family of the Medici. The 
foundation of their importance was laid by John di Me¬ 
dici, the wealthiest banker of Florence. His son Cosmo 
(1429—1464) was driven into exile by the jealousy of the 
other bankers, but within a year he was recalled, and 
honoured with the title of father of his country, a distinc¬ 
tion richly merited by his political sagacity and liberal 


138 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [275 - 279 . § 62 . 

(274) patronage of the fine arts. Not only in Florence and 
a Tuscany, but in Umbria, Venice, and even in Jerusalem, 
the most magnificent works of architecture, sculpture, and 
painting, bore witness to his exquisite taste. His son 
Peter died soon after his father (1469), to whom he bore 
little resemblance, and was succeeded by Lorenzo, whose 
munificent patronage of the arts and sciences elevated 
Florence to the rank of a second Athens (1469—1492). 

275 2. States of the Church. During the residence of 
b the popes at Avignon (1305—1376) several cities, prin¬ 
cipally in the March of Ancona, threw off the papal yoke, 
and placed themselves under the control of tyrants. Even 
Rome itself was distracted by frequent revolutions (in one 
of which a plebeian named Cola llienzi assumed the title 
of tribune), and by the feuds of the Colonna (Ghibellines) 
and Ursini (Guelphs). It was not until the end of this 
period that the States of the Church were re-united. Avig¬ 
non was added to them by purchase in 1348. 

C. In Lower Italy. 

276 1* In Naples, the house of Anjou occupied the throne 
c until 1442, when the country was conquered by Alfonso V. 

of Arragon, who already possessed Sicily. At his death 
Alfonso bequeathed Naples, as a separate kingdom, to his 
natural son Ferdinand, whose posterity continued to reign 
until the year 1504. 

277 2. Sicily remained a distinct kingdom under the sons 
of Peter III. of Arragon and their successors, until the 
extinction of the family, when it was united to Arragon. 

§ 62. France . 

A. Under the last Capets 
( 1270 — 1328 ). 

278 10. Philip III. (1270-1285), after the death of his 
d father, withdrew his army from Tunis, married his son 

Philip to Johanna, heiress of Navarre, and died on his 
return from an unsuccessful expedition against Arragon. 

279 11. Philip IV., Le Bel (1285—1311), king also of 
Navarre, in right of his wife Johanna. This monarch, the 
distinguishing features of whose character were ambition, 


FRANCE. 


139 


280 , 281 . § 62 .] 

cunning, avarice, and cruelty, obtained possession of Gui- (279) 
enne (which he afterwards restored) during a war with a 
England, occasioned by a quarrel between some English 
and French sailors. A successful insurrection of the Flem¬ 
ings, at that time allies of England, compelled him to 
abandon Flanders, which had also fallen into his hands. 

Pope Boniface VIII., who had excommunicated Philip for 
extorting contributions from the clergy for the prosecution 
of this war, was seized by the king’s servants, and died of 
grief. The next pope but one, Clement V. (Archbishop 
of Bourdeaux), established himself at Avignon, which con¬ 
tinued to be the papal residence from 1305 to 1376. A b 
cruel persecution was carried on against the Knights Tem¬ 
plars, whose wealth had excited the cupidity of Philip. 

After a long but most unfair trial, many members of the 
order w^ere condemned to be burnt, on the evidence of 
perjured witnesses, or after confessions extorted by the 
rack. The order itself was entirely suppressed by Pope 
Clement V. (at the council of Vienne). 

After the death of Philip IV. the crow r n was worn in 280 
rapid succession by his three sons, Louis X., Philip V. c 
(who persuaded the estates of his kingdom to pass an act 
excluding females from the throne), and Charles IV., who 
died without issue male, and was succeeded by his cousin, 

Philip of Valois. Navarre was settled on Johanna, daugh¬ 
ter of Louis X., and w^as not re-united to France until the 
accession of the Bourbons in 1589. 


B. Under kings of the house of Valois 

( 1328 — 1589 ). 

Louis IX. 


f 

Philip III. 

_A_ 


-' ^ 

Robert de Clermont, 
founder of the Bourbon 


281 

D 


Philip IV. 


Charles of Valois. family. 


\ 


LouisX., PhilipV., CharlesIV., Isabella Philip VI. 

mar. 

Johanna. Edward II., 

King of England. 


Edward III. 








140 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [282 - 284 . § 02 . 

282 1. Philip VI. (1328—1350). The claims to the 
a throne of France advanced by Edward III., as grandson of 

Philip IV., on the ground that his mother alone, and not 
her male issue, was excluded from the succession, occa¬ 
sioned a war between England and France , which lasted, 
more than a hundred years (1339—1453). Edward III. 
(who had assumed the title of King of France) formed an 
alliance with the Flemings, under Artevelde, a brewer of 
Ghent, and the Count of Artois, who had been expelled 
from France for forgery, and obtained a splendid naval 
b victory off Sluys (1340); then landed in Normandy with 
his son, Edward the Black Prince, defeated the French at 
Cressy (1346), and took Calais, which was entirely colo¬ 
nized by the English, and remained in their possession 
until the year 1558. Philip added Dauphine, Champagne, 
and Brie, to the possessions of the French crown. The 
right of voting grants of the public money was conceded 
by him to the estates of the realm. He died during an 
armistice with England. 

283 2. John the Good (1350—1364) was defeated by 
c the Black Prince at Maupertuis, near Poitiers (1356), 

where he was taken prisoner with his youngest son Philip, 
and conveyed to London. During his captivity a demo¬ 
cratic party was formed at Paris by Marcel, president of 
the Parisian guild of merchants, whilst almost at the same 
time a disturbance broke out in the north of France, among 
the peasants (Jaquerie), who were grievously oppressed by 
the nobles. After defeating these undisciplined bands, the 
nobles tendered their services to Prince Charles, who 
obtained quiet possession of Paris after the assassination 
d of Marcel. A peace was concluded at Bretigny (near 
Chartres), on the following terms,—Edward III. received 
Guienne, Poitou, Calais, &c., as sourerain possessions, in 
return for his renunciation of the title of King of France, 
and of the provinces formerly held by England. On the 
other hand, King John agreed to pay a considerable ransom 
for his liberation: but this not being forthcoming, he re¬ 
turned to London, where he died a prisoner, after bestow¬ 
ing the vacant dukedom of Burgundy on his youngest son, 
Philip the Hardy. 

284 3. Charles V., the Wise (1364—1380). His distin- 


FRANCE. 


141 


285 , 286 . § 62 .] 

guished general, Bertrand du Guesclin, cleared the kingdom (284) 
of marauding bands of mercenaries, whom he led into Spain, a 
where a disputed succession to the Castilian throne had 
occasioned a civil war. The same general, in a war which 
soon afterwards broke out between France and England, 
wrested from the English crown all its possessions in France 
except Calais and a part of Guienne. 

4. Charles VI. (1380—1422) at first, on account of285 
his minority, and afterwards of his imbecility *, was placed p 
under the guardianship of his uncles the Dukes of Berry 
and Burgundy, whose right to this office was vehemently 
contested bv the Duke of Orleans, brother to the king. 

These conflicting claims occasioned the formation of two 
parties, one of which sided with Burgundy, whilst the other 
(headed by the Comte d’Armagnac) supported the Duke of 
Orleans. After the assassination of Orleans, a bloody civil 
war raged between the two factions, during which the 
English again entered France and gained the victory of 
Azincourt (1415). The Burgundian party obtained pos- c 
session of the city of Paris, which they held until the death 

of the Duke of Burgundy, who was assassinated by the 
attendants of the Dauphin, on the bridge of Montereau (on 
the Yonne). His son, Philip the Good, of Burgundy, im¬ 
plored the assistance of Henry V. of England, who entered 
Paris, married Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., and was 
proclaimed heir-presumptive to the throne of France; but 
died before Charles, leaving an infant son. Two months 
after his decease Charles died also, and was succeeded by 
the Dauphin as 

5. Charles VII. (1422—1461), whilst at the same 2S6 
time Henry VI. of England was proclaimed king in the north d 
of France. After sustaining two defeats, Charles was com¬ 
pelled to cross the Loire, and the city of Orleans was on the 
eve of surrendering to the English, when a peasant girl 
named Joan of Arc , the Maid of Orleans , a native of Dom 
Remy, near Vaucouleurs, in Champagne, placed herself at 
the head of the French army, and compelled the English to 
raise the siege (1429). Then she conducted Charles VII. 

in triumph to the city of Rheims, where he was crowned; 
but falling (1430) into the hands of her enemies during 

1 Cards were invented, it is said, for the amusement of Charles VI. 


142 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[ 287 . § 62 . 

(286) the siege of Compiegne, she was tried for witchcraft, and 
a burnt at Rouen, on the 30th of May, 1431. A recon¬ 
ciliation was effected between the Duke of Burgundy and 
Charles VII., the city of Paris surrendering to the king, 
whilst the English, deprived of Normandy and Guienne, 
were compelled, after a fruitless struggle, to content them¬ 
selves with the possession of Calais and the Channel 
Islands. The war was terminated, without any formal 
conclusion of peace, in consequence of the struggles be¬ 
tween the factions of the red and white roses in England. 
The organization of some companies of cavalry, and of the 
francs-archers, or free sharpshooters, as a body of infantry, 
b laid the foundation of a standing army. The influence 
exercised over the mind of the king by his mistress, Agnes 
Sorel, occasioned an estrangement between Charles and the 
Dauphin, who sought an asylum at the court of the Duke 
of Burgundy, after an unsuccessful attempt to deprive his 
father of the crown. 

287 6. Louis XI. (1461—1483) attempted to establish the 

absolute power of the crown by the following measures: 
1. All the servants of his father were dismissed, and their 
places supplied by persons who were indebted for their 
advancement solely to Louis himself. 2. The estates of 
the different provinces were convoked instead of the great 
council of estates of the realm. 3. Measures were adopted 
for humbling the princes of the blood, and two great vassals 
c of the crown, the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany. The 
result of this policy was the formation of a league, termed 
“ la ligue du bien public,” between the disgraced ministers 
of the crown and the two dukes, who compelled the king, 
after an indecisive battle at Montlheri, to make important 
concessions, which he afterwards refused to ratify. The 
league was soon afterwards dissolved through the intrigues 
of Louis, by whom the Liegeois were urged to make 
D repeated incursions into the Burgundian territory. During 
one of these inroads, Louis, who had rashly visited the 
Duke of Burgundy at Peronne, was detained a prisoner, 
and only released on condition of granting several impor¬ 
tant immunities to his powerful vassal. In revenge, Louis, 
during the absence of Charles the Bold (who was engaged, 
as protector of the Archbishop of Cologne, in reducing the 
revolted city of Neuss), stirred up the inhabitants of Lor- 


143 


288, 289. § G3.] England and Scotland. 

raine and the Swiss to make war on Burgundy. After re- (287) 
ducing Lorraine, Charles marched into Switzerland, where a 
he was defeated at Granson and Murten, in 1476. 

The Duke of Lorraine, who had been deprived of his 
dominions, was restored by the Swiss ; and Charles, in an 
attempt to avenge this insult, lost his life before Nancy 
in 1477. The dukedom of Burgundy lapsed, as a void b 
male fief, to the crown of France; but the numerous Ger¬ 
man seignories which had been incorporated with Burgundy 
by marriage, purchase, and inheritance, and even some of 
the smaller French fiefs, were afterwards acquired by 
Austria, through the marriage of the Archduke Maximilian 
with Mary of Burgundy, daughter and sole heiress of 
Charles the Bold. The death of his brother enabled Louis 
to annex Guienne and Normandy to France; and when 
the house of Anjou became extinct, he inherited Anjou, 
Provence, and Maine, together with the claims of that 
family to the Neapolitan throne. His son, 

7. Charles VIII. (1483 —1498) conquered Naples, 2S8 
but was compelled to abandon his conquest by the united c 
forces of the pope, the Emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand 
the Catholic, the Duke of Milan, and the Republic of 
Venice. With him expired the elder line of the house of 
Valois. 


§ 63. England and Scotland. 

A. Kings of the house of Plantagenet. 

5. Edward I. (1272—1307) annexed Wales to the 289 
English crown. His son Edward assumed the title of 
Prince of Wales, which has ever since been borne by the 
heir-apparent. The extinction of the dynasty of the house d 
of Kenneth (1286) was followed by the disputes of thir¬ 
teen claimants to the Scottish throne, among whom the 
most powerful were Balliol and Bruce. Edward, as feudal 
sovereign of Scotland, decided this dispute by placing 
John Balliol on the throne; but the new king immediately 
renounced his allegiance to the crown of England, and 
was deposed by Edward, who subdued Scotland, but died 
during a campaign against Robert Bruce, who had been 
crowned by the insurgent Scots. 


144 THE MIDDLE AGES. [290, 291. § 63. 

(289) 6. Edward II. (1307—1327), son-in-law of Philip IV. 

a of France. The feeble government of this monarch, who 
was a mere tool in the hands of unworthy favourites, 
encouraged the nobles to resist the authority of the crown, 
whilst at the same time the Scotch not only maintained 
their independence, but even made frequent incursions into 
England, and at length compelled the king to grant an 
armistice. His wife Isabella, who had visited France, in 
the hope of putting an end to a war which had broken out 
between Edward and her brother Charles IV., conspired 
with her paramour Mortimer against the unfortunate king, 
and having landed in England at the head of some Nether¬ 
landish troops, and gained over a majority of the nobles 
and the rabble of London, she compelled the parliament 
to depose Edward (who was soon afterwards brutally 
murdered) and to proclaim his son 

290 7. Ed ward III. (1327 —1377), who emancipated him- 
B self from all control by hanging Mortimer, and banishing 

his mother from court. After the death of the Scotch 
king, Robert Bruce (j' 1329), his son David was called to 
the throne, but was soon compelled by the English to 
abdicate in favour of Edward Balliol, who consented to 
recognize the supremacy of Edward III. The disputes 
respecting the right to the Scottish throne continued until 
c the accession of the Stuarts in 1371. The frequent pecu¬ 
niary embarrassments, occasioned by the expenses of a war 
with France, compelled Edward to convoke his parliament 
seventy times. During this reign the great council of the 
nation was first divided into the Upper House (prelates 
and barons), and the Lower (inferior nobles and represen¬ 
tatives of cities). 

291 8. Richard II. (1377—1399), son of the Black 
D Prince, suppressed an insurrection of the people, occa¬ 
sioned by the oppressive system of taxation ; but after¬ 
wards became the slave of unworthy favourites, and was 
deprived of almost all his authority by his uncle the Duke 
of Gloucester and a commission of regency. The reins of 
government were again placed in his hands by the parlia¬ 
ment, and a second time wrested from him by Henry, 
duke of Lancaster (a grandson of Edward III., who 
had been banished by Richard). The unfortunate king 


145 


292, 293. § 63.] England and Scotland. 

was taken prisoner, and compelled by the parliament to (291 
abdicate in favour of his rival. a 

B. Three kings of the house of Lancaster, 
a collateral branch of the house of Plantagenet 

( 1399 — 1461 ). 

1. Henry IV. (1399—1413). His reign was disturbed 292 
by repeated conspiracies, all of which were rendered abor- b 
tive by the courage and sagacity of the king. His brave 
son, 

2. Henry V., obtained a brilliant victory over the 293 
French at Agincourt, and conquered Normandy. He 
married the daughter of Charles VI., and was nominated 
successor to the French throne after the death of his father- 
in-law, but died before him, and was succeeded by his 
infant son, , 


146 

294 

A 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[294. § 63. 






















147 


295—297. § 63.] England and Scotland. 

3. Henry VI. (1422—1461), who assumed the title 295 
of King of France, but was soon deprived of all his pos- a 
sessions in that country, with the exception of Calais and 
the Channel Islands. These losses, added to the disgust 
•occasioned by the conduct of the king’s favourites, pro¬ 
duced an opposition in parliament, headed by his cousin, 
Richard duke of York, who claimed the crown as a de¬ 
scendant of the second son of Edward III., the house of 
Lancaster tracing its descent from the third. This dispute 
occasioned the wars of the red (Lancaster) and white 
(York) roses. Richard was nominated protector during 
the insanity of the king, but refused to resign the office 
on his recovery. Two battles were then fought (at St. b 
Alban’s in 1455, and Northampton in 1460), in each of 
which the king was taken prisoner, but released; and 
finally, he agreed to abdicate in favour of Richard. The 
war having been renewed by the queen, Margaret of Anjou, 
Richard was slain in the battle of Wakefield. His son 
Edward then assumed the title of king, and defeated the 
Lancasterian party near Towton. 

C. Three kings of the house of York. 

( 1401 — 1485 ). 

1. Edward IV. (1461—1483.) After an ineffectual 296 
attempt to replace her husband on the throne by means of c 
French troops, Margaret formed an alliance with the Earl 

of Warwick (who had been ill-treated by Edward, and had 
taken refuge in France), and with his son-in-law, the 
Duke of Clarence. Warwick returned to England, de¬ 
posed Edward, and reseated Henry on the throne (1470); 
but in the following year, Edward, who was supported by 
his brother-in-law, Charles the Bold, of Burgundy, re¬ 
appeared in England, and defeated the forces of Warwick 
and Margaret. Henry VI. died suddenly in the Tower 
(possibly by the dagger of Richard, duke of Gloucester), 
and the house of Lancaster became extinct, with the excep¬ 
tion of Henry Tudor, who fled to Brittany. 

2. Edward V. (1483), soon after his father’s death, 297 
was set aside by his guardian and uncle, Richard of Glou- d 
cester, who ascended the throne as 

h 2 


148 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [298-301. § 64, 65. 

298 3. Richard III. (1483—1485.) In the year 1485 he 
a was slain in the battle of Bos worth, and Henry Tudor 

(earl of Richmond) as King Henry VII., reconciled the 
conflicting claims of the two houses, by a marriage with 
Elizabeth of York. 

§ 64. The Pyrencean Peninsula . 

299 The only possession which still remained (in 1237) in 
the hands of the Moors, was the little kingdom of Granada, 
generally dependent on Castile, but enjoying considerable 
political, agricultural, and commercial prosperity, until its 
union with Castile (in consequence of a disputed succes¬ 
sion) in 1492. 

300 The two Christian kingdoms— Array on (to which 
b Sardinia, and afterwards Sicily, and, for a short time, 

Naples, were annexed, and which was partly governed by 
a peculiar magistracy (the Justitia), acting as a mediator 
between the king and the estates of his realm) and Cas¬ 
tile , were united in 1479, by the marriage of Ferdinand 
of Arragon with Isabella, the heiress of Castile. Each 
kingdom retained the constitution by which it had been 
governed previously to the union. Granada was added in 
1492. Navarre , which had been annexed at an early period 
to France, was settled in 1316 on Johanna, daughter of 
Louis X., and became thenceforward a separate independent 
c kingdom. In Portugal , after the extinction of the legitimate 
Burgundian line in 1383, a new dynasty was founded by 
John I., a natural son of Peter I. In the fifteenth century 
Madeira, the Azores, the Cape Verd Islands, and the coast 
of Guinea, were discovered by Henry the Voyager (third 
son of John I.). In 1486, Bartholomew Diaz reached the 
cabo tormentoso, afterwards named by John II. cabo de 
bonna esperanza (Cape of Good Hope). 

B. The East. 

§ 65. The Byzantine Empire under the Palceologi. 

( 1261 — 1453 .) 

301 Under the dynasty of the Palaeologi, the fragments of the 
d ancient Byzantine empire were re-united, with the exception 


BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 


149 


302, 303. § 66, 67.] 


of a few small independent seignories, which had been (301) 
established by the Latin knights; but the government of a 
sovereigns, of whom the majority were feeble-minded and 
incapable, and whose administration was frequently embar¬ 
rassed by civil wars, ecclesiastical disputes, and court- 
intrigues, opposed but an ineffectual barrier to the ad¬ 
vancing tide of Ottoman encroachment. An unsuccessful 
attempt was made to obtain assistance from the West, by a 
union of the Greek and Latin Churches, and the empire 
was now on the verge of destruction, when an invasion of 
the Mongols withheld their enemies for a time ; but the 
respite was of short duration, for on the 29th of May, 

1453, Constantinople, after a short siege, surrendered to 
Mohammed II. The empire, also, of Trebizond, and all B 
the smaller Greek states in the islands, the Morea, Epirus, 
and Attica, fell into the hands of the conqueror. The 
kingdom of Cyprus alone became a dependency of the 
republic of Venice. 


§ 66 - 


The Osmans. 


An independent empire was founded in the fourteenth 302 
century on the ruins of the Seldschuk kingdom of Iconium, c 
by O sman, emir of a nomadic tribe. Its boundaries, 
which at first comprehended only Bithynia, were rapidly 
extended, until they embraced the greater part of Asia 
Minor and Thrace. Adrianople became the imperial resi¬ 
dence in 1365. The Osmans had already compelled 
Macedonia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia, to ac¬ 
knowledge their supremacy, and were advancing into 
Styria, after a victory over Sigismund, king of Hungary, 
near Nicopolis in 1396, when they were themselves de¬ 
feated in the East by the great Mongol conqueror," Timur d 
L enk (Tamerlane). Notwithstanding, however, this check, 
the power of the Osmans was speedily re-established, and 
in the year 1453, Mohammed II. became master of the 
Byzantine empire and the empire of Trebizond (see § 65), 
Servia, Wallachia, Bosnia, Albania, and several settlements 
of the Genoese on the Black Sea. 

1 

§ 67. The Mongols. 

The Mongols became again a formidable power under 3031 
Timur Lenk, or Tamerlane, a descendant of Dschingis 

h 3 


150 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [304, 305. § 68, 69. 

303) Khan (1369—1405), who founded a kingdom at Samar- 
a cand, in great Bucharia, and thence carried on successful 
wars against Persia, a portion of India, and Natolia ; sacked 
Moscow and Asof in Russia, and died on an expedition 
against the Chinese. After his death, this mighty empire 
which extended from the wall of China and the Ganges 
to the shores of the Mediterranean, was split into a number 
of petty principalities. 

C. The north-east of Europe. 

§ 68 . Scandinavia. 

304 Denmark, at the commencement of this period, was 
b divided (among the sons of Eric IV.) into several prin¬ 
cipalities, which were re-united by Waldemar III., after 
the loss of Esthonia. Margaret, daughter of this sove¬ 
reign, married Haco VIII., king of Norway, and after the 
deaths of her father and husband, governed the two king¬ 
doms as guardian of her son Olaf, whose early decease 
placed both Denmark and Norway at her absolute dis- 

c posal. In Sweden, which at an earlier period had been 
united to Norway (from 1319 to 1365), the estates, dis¬ 
gusted at the avarice of their king (Albert, a prince of 
Mecklenburg), offered the crown to Margaret of Denmark. 
Thus the three Scandinavian kingdoms, of Sweden, Den¬ 
mark, and Norway, were united (by the treaty of Cal mar, 
1397) under one sovereign, each, nevertheless, retaining 
its own parliament and code of laws. Margaret was suc¬ 
ceeded by Eric of Pomerania, her sister’s grandson, and his 
d nephew Christopher of Bavaria. The throne of Denmark 
and Norway was then filled by Christian I. (of the house 
of Oldenburg), who had married Christopher’s widow. 
Schleswig and Holstein were soon added by inheritance to 
the possessions of the new royal house, which was either 
not recognized at all in Sweden, or compelled to intrust 
the administration of that kingdom to a native viceroy, or 
president. 

§ 69. Russia. 

305 Russia, where the grand principality of Wladimir (which 
comprised also Novgorod) was united to Moskwa, or Mos¬ 
cow, in 1328, was deprived by the Lithuanians and Poles 


151 


306, 307. § 70.] Russia—Poland. 

(during the period of its dependence on the Mongol empire) (305) 
of several of its western provinces, such as Volhynia, Kiev, a 
P odolia, Red and White Russia; but after several long 
and bloody struggles (during which a brilliant victory was 
obtained on the Don, by Demetrius Donski, and successful 
resistance was offered to the attacks of Timur), the Rus¬ 
sians under Ivan the Great emancipated themselves from 
the tyranny of the (so called) golden Horde in Kaptschak. 

The Khanate of Kaptschak was then divided into four 
kingdoms (Crim, Astrachan, Kasan, and Turan). Ivan the b 
G reat, the real founder of the Russian empire, extended 
his dominions to the borders of Lithuania, exacted tribute 
from the Khanate of Kasan, laid the foundation of an im¬ 
proved constitution, and was the first Russian sovereign 
who assumed the title of Czar. 

§70. Poland. 

1. Under the Piasts (840—1386), who re-assumed the 306 
title of king in 1320, Great Poland (on the Lower Warthe), c 
and Little Poland (on the Upper Vistula) or Cracow and 
Sendomir) were united, Cracow being the place appointed 

for the coronation of the Polish kings. Casimir the Great, 
the last king of the Piast male line, was deprived of Silesia 
by Bohemia, and of Pomerella by the knights of the Teu¬ 
tonic order ; but on the other hand, Galicia, or Red Russia, 
Podolia, and the feudal sovereignty of Masovia, were 
acquired by this monarch, who greatly improved the con¬ 
dition of his people by the establishment of a supreme 
court of justice and a university at Cracow, and by a 
succession of benefits conferred on the citizen and peasant 
estates (hence his title of the “ peasant’s king”). Casimir 
was succeeded by his sister’s son, Lewis the Great, king 
of Hungary, who secured the succession for one of his 
daughters, by granting various important privileges to the 
nobility. Lithuania, which since the Mongol invasion had d 
become an independent government, was re-united to 
Poland by the marriage of Hedwig (youngest daughter of 
the king of Poland) to Jagello, duke of Lithuania, who was 
baptized (with all his subjects), and assumed the name of 
Wladislaw II. 

2. Under the descendants of Jagello (1386— 

h 4 




152 


THE MIDDLE AGES. [308, 309. § 71 j 72. 

307 1572), Wladislaw II. was compelled to recognize the right 
a of election claimed by the estates, and to allow the Lithu¬ 
anians grand dukes of their own, subject to the supremacy 
of the Polish crown (— 1502). In the year 1410 Wla¬ 
dislaw defeated the Teutonic order at Tannenberg, and 
obtained possession (by the peace of Thorn) of Samogitia, 
to which by a second peace, concluded at the same place 
(in 1466), Casimir II. added West Prussia, and the feudal 
sovereignty of East Prussia. Thus the kingdom of Poland 
extended from the Black Sea to the Baltic. 

§ 71. Prussia under the Teutonic order. 

308 The Teutonic order, which since the year 1309 had 
b been settled at Marienburg, had acquired, partly by con- 

* quest and partly by purchase, Pomerella, Esthonia, Neumark, 
and Samogitia, so that its empire at last comprehended the 
entire coast of the Baltic from Dantzic to Narva, with the 
islands of Gothland and Oesel. The golden period of this 
dynasty was from 1351 to 1382, under the Grand Master 
Winrich von Kniprode; but a single defeat at Tannen¬ 
berg, in 1419 (which terminated the war between the 
Lithuanians and Poles), completely shattered its power, 
although the brave defence of Marienberg, by Henry von 
Plauen, obtained for it (at the peace of Thorn, in 1411, 
see § 70) more favourable terms than could reasonably 
c have been anticipated. The insufferable tyranny of the 
order was soon afterwards resisted by a confederacy of 
nobles and cities (at Marienwerder), which publicly repu¬ 
diated its authority, and sought the protection of Poland. 
After a twelve years’ war with the confederation and 
Poland, a second peace was concluded at Thorn in 1466, 
the order ceding Western Prussia to Poland, and consenting 
d to hold Eastern Prussia as a Polish fief. The head-quarters 
of the order were transferred to Konigsberg. Until the 
year 1513 Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland, were governed 
by the provincial grand master of the Order of the Sword, 
subject to the supreme authority of the Teutonic order. 

§ 72. Hungary . 

309 Scarcely had Hungary (including Transylvania, Scla- 
vonia, Croatia, and Bosnia) begun to recover from the 


PRUSSIA-HUNGARY. 


153 


310. § 73.] 

effects of the Mongol invasions, when the extinction of (309) 
the Arpad dynasty occasioned fresh struggles, which ter- a 
minated at length in the accession of a prince of the 
House of Anjou, Charles Robert (1308—1342), a 
great-grandson of Stephen V., whose vigorous govern¬ 
ment, followed by the wise administration of his son 
Lewis the Great, raised Hungary to a position which she 
had never before occupied. Lewis the Great (1342— 
1382), by the acquisition of Dalmatia, the feudal supre¬ 
macy of Servia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia, and 
finally of the crown of Poland (as nephew and >heir of 
Casimir III.), became the most powerful monarch of 
Europe. He was succeeded, after a short struggle be- b 
tween rival candidates, by his son-in-law Sigismund, a 
prince of the house of Luxemburg (1387—1437), who 
was too feeble either to maintain the prerogative of the 
crown against rebels at home, or to protect the kingdom 
from foreign enemies. The short reigns of his son-in-law 
Albert of Austria, and the King of Poland, were fol¬ 
lowed by the accession of Albert’s posthumous son Ladis- 
laus, who was succeeded by a native prince, Matthias Cor- 
vinus (son of the brave Hunyad, regent of the kingdom 
during Albert’s minority). His violation of the conditions c 
to which he had solemnly pledged himself at his election 
so offended the electors, that they offered the crown to 
the Emperor Frederick III.; but the claims of this new 
candidate were successfully resisted by Matthias, whose 
victories over the Osmans, Bohemians, and the emperor, 
procured for himself and his kingdom a reputation, which 
was maintained by the establishment of a standing army, 
the encouragement which he afforded to artists and learned 
men, and the great improvement effected (though not 
without the imposition of heavy taxes) in every branch of 
the administration. 

§ 73. Religion, Arts, Sciences, fyc., during the Fourth 

Period. 

1. The Church. Lithuania, the last heathen nation of 310 
Europe, had embraced, as we have seen, the Christian d 
religion, and discoveries on the western coast of Africa 
were preparing the way for its reception in a quarter of the 
globe still more barbarous. During this period the influ- 


154 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[311. §73. 

(310) ence of the papacy, although never lost, was grievously 
a endangered by the disputes of the pope with Philip IV. of 
France and Louis the Bavarian, as well as by the teaching 
of Wicklifle and Huss, and more than all, by the seventy 
years’ residence of the popes at Avignon, the forty years’ 
schism, and the contest between the council of Basle and 
Eugene IV. The great object of that council, as well as 
of the council of Constance, had been the limitation of the 
papal power; but the hopes of ecclesiastical reform, which 
thousands had cherished at the opening of the latter, had 
vanished long before the termination of its session. A 
terrible pestilence, termed the “ Black Death,” which 
devastated western Europe in the fourteenth century, occa¬ 
sioned the formation of societies of both sexes for the care 
15 of the sick and the burial of the dead. Renewed attempts 
to re-unite the Greek and Latin churches were successful 
to a certain extent, a convention having been executed by 
representatives of the two parties, at a synod held at 
Florence; but the proceedings of the synod were never 
recognized either by the people, or those of the clergy 
who remained at Constantinople. 

311 2. Political Constitution. The spirit of political 

c combination, which had been awakened in the preceding 
century, continued to spread, particularly in Germany, 
where confederacies of cities, nobles, &c., manifested the 
extent of its influence. In France, the power of the king 
was steadily augmented by the acquisition of crown lands, 
whilst the reverse was the case in Germany, where the 
narrow-minded personal ambition of the emperors, led 
them to seek the aggrandizement of their own families at 
the expense of the imperial prerogative, which was weak¬ 
ened by their reckless grants of immunities and revenues 
to cities and nobles, in return for some personal benefit. 
d By this policy the German empire was split into a number 
of petty principalities, forming a sort of federal republic, 
with an elective president at its head. In Italy, a system 
of political counterpoise was maintained, chiefly by means 
of Florence, which occupied a middle position between the 
commonwealth of the north (Venice and Milan), and the 
absolute monarchies of the south (States of the Church and 
Naples). The constitution of the east was a military 
despotism. At this period the most remarkable pecu- 


155 


312. § 73.] RELIGION, ARTS, &C. 

liarity in the administration of justice, vvas the existence (311) 
of the Free Court, or Vehmgericht of Westphalia, a dark a 
and mysterious tribunal, which judged in secret, and soon 
spread over the whole of Germany. The origin, charac¬ 
ter, limits, and regulations of this institution, are involved 
in impenetrable obscurity. 

3. In the Sciences, three causes united to produce 312 
new life : (1) the rapid increase in the number of universi¬ 
ties, of which more than fifty were founded at this period 
(in Germany : Prague, 1348; Vienna, 1365; Heidelberg, 

1386; Cologne, 1388; Erfurt; and in the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, Wurtzburg, Leipzic, Rostock, Greifswalde, Freiburg, 
Treves, Ingoldstadt, and Mainz) : (2) the revival of the 
study of classical literature. The attempted reconciliation b 
between the Eastern and Western Churches, and still more, 
the conquest of the Byzantine empire by the Turks, had 
inundated Italy with a host of learned Greeks, who brought 
with them their literary treasures, and were installed as 
professors of their native language at the universities, or 
found an honourable asylum in the palaces of the Medici 
and other noble Italian families. Thus a better taste in c 
literature was introduced and propagated through the 
exertions of these illustrious foreigners and their native 
disciples, Joh. Boccaccio, Laurentius Valla, Marsilius Fici- 
nus, &c.; and the German writers, Agricola and Reuchlin. 

At the same time academies, or learned societies (e. g. that 
of the Platonic philosophy founded at Florence, by Cosmo 
di Medici); new schools and libraries (the Vatican, &c.), 
w r ere established in different parts of Europe: (3) the 
invention of printing, by John Gansfleisch, of Sul- 
geloch (Sorgenloch), commonly called Gutenberg of 
Mainz, who had already tried many experiments, during a 
sojourn of twenty [?] years at Strasburg, and, on his return 
(1445) to his native town, brought his plans to perfection, 
with the assistance of Peter Schoffer, and a rich goldsmith 
named John Fust (1450). The first printed book was Gu- d 
tenberg’s Latin Bible (finished in 1456). In the scholastic 
Aristotelic philosophy (which was not superseded by the 
new Platonic philosophy until the end of the mediaeval 
period), the distinction continued to exist between the 
Realists (who maintained that general ideas were 
things ), and the Nominalists (who contended that they 

h 6 


1 56 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


[313. § 73. 

(312) were only words). Both these schools were opposed to the 
a Mystics. The use of the vernacular language in historical 
writing became more common. Geographical science was 
promoted by the travels of missionaries, ambassadors, and 
merchants, and the discoveries of the Portuguese; the 
study of mathematics and medicine by translations of the 
best Greek treatises on those subjects. 

313 4. Art. (a) Poetry flourished most in Italy, wdiere the 

b Florentine Dante Alighieri (-11321) won for himself the 
title of “ Father of Italian poetry,” by the publication of 
his “ Divina Commedia” (Wanderings in Heaven, Hell, 
and Purgatory). The sonnets of Francesco Petrarca (Pe¬ 
trarch), on Laura of Sade (f 1374), and the Decamerone 
of Giovanni Boccaccio (-j~ 1375), are also works of no 
ordinary merit. The Tuscan dialect, in which Boccaccio 
wrote, became thenceforward the language of Italian lite¬ 
rature. In Germany, as in France, the drama owed its 
development to the mysteries and Shrovetide mummeries 
c (as they were called) of the Romish Church. The ser¬ 
mons of John Tauler are the earliest attempt at German 
prose composition. The father of English poetry was 
Geoffrey Chaucer ('j~ 1400). ( b ) Architecture. In addi¬ 

tion to the Gothic, which was occupied partly in com¬ 
pleting the works commenced in the preceding century, 
and partly in constructing new edifices (the church of 
St. Mary, at Niirnberg; the cathedrals of Ulm, Antwerp, 
and Milan), there arose in Italy a new school, which pro¬ 
fessed to copy the monuments of classical antiquity. The 
best architects in this style were at Pisa and Florence. 
d (c) Painting was brought to great perfection (a) in Italy 
by the Tuscan or Florentine school (which numbered 
among its professors Leonardo da Vinci (j~ 1519), the 
inventor of perspective), as well as by the Roman and 
other schools: (6) in Germany, by the earlier Cologne 
(Meister Wilhelm), and Flemish schools (the two brothers 
van Eyck). ( d ) Sculpture in clay, bronze, and marble (by 
Donato of Florence and others), emulated the perfection of 
ancient art. (e) Copperplate printing was invented in Ger¬ 
many in the fifteenth century. (/) Music was improved by 
the invention of singing in parts, the addition of pedals to 
the organ, and various important alterations in the con¬ 
struction of other instruments. 


157 


313. § 73.] RELIGION, ARTS, &C. 

5. Trade, Navigation, and Manufactures. ( a ) In (313) 
the south, the maritime trade was almost exclusively in the a 
hands of the Italians. The command of the Mediterranean 
was at first divided between Venice and Genoa, the former 
possessing the East Indian, Syrian, and African trade, the 
latter the trade to the Black Sea, Byzantium, and the 
Levant; both republics having also settlements in the 
islands, and even in Greece and the Tauric Cherso- 
nesus. But the long war (see § 61), which ended in the 
triumph of Venice over her rival, placed at her disposal 
the trade to the Levant and the Black Sea, in addition to 
her former commercial advantages. ( b ) All the coasts of b 
western and northern Europe belonged to the German 
H ansa. This union of nearly eighty Netherlandish, 
North-German, and Prussian cities, for the protection of 
their commerce from piracy and violence, had gradually 
been formed (since the thirteenth century) out of several 
smaller Hansas or associations, and was at first divided 
into three branches: (1) the Wendish-Saxon; (2) the 
Westphalian-Prussian; and (3) the Gothlandish towns; 
i. e. the Germans in Gothland, Livonia, and Sweden ; and, 
at a later period into four, viz. the Westphalian, of which 
Cologne w’as the centre ; the Prussian, which had Dantzig; 
the Wendish, Liibec; and the Saxon, Brunswick, for 
their respective commercial capitals. The Hansa had c 
depots at Bruges, Novgorod, in all the seaports of the 
Baltic and German Ocean, and even in Spain. It main¬ 
tained also a considerable navy, held diets, and carried on 
wars. After a long struggle with Cologne, Liibec w^as 
recognized as the chief city of the Union. The overland 
trade between the east and west, as well as between the 
north of Europe and Italy (from Dantzic and Kiev to 
Venice), was in the hands of the Viennese, Ratisboners, 
Niirnbergers, and Augsbergers ; but a considerable inter¬ 
change of commodities between the north (Prussian and 
Slavish provinces), and south (Constantinople and Venice), 
was effected through the agency of Breslau merchants. 
Towards the end of the mediaeval period, the fairs held d 
at Frankfort-on-the-Maine were in general repute. The 
principal emporium of the French overland trade was at 
first Troyes, and at a later period (1445) Lyons. 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


THE MIDDLE AGES. 


First Period.— From the fall of the western empire to the accession of 
the Carlovingians and Abbasides, 470—750. 


A. D. 

470—493. The Italian empire of Odoacer. 

480. End of the Roman supremacy in Gaul. Syagrius defeated by 
Clovis near Soissons. 

493—555. Empire of the Ostrogoths in Italy. 

49G. Battle of Ziilpich. 

507. Southern France wrested from the Visigoths by Clovis. 

527—505. Justinian I. Legislation. Nika. Architectural works. 

531—712* Elective Visigothic monarchy in Spain. 

533. Kingdoms of Thuringia and Burgundy united to Spain. 

534. Empire of the Vandals overthrown by Belisarius. 

535—555. War between the Ostrogoths (under Totilas and Tejas) 
and the Byzantines (under Belisarius and Narses). Rome 
taken five times. 

555—508. The whole of Italy subject to the Byzantine government. 

558—501. The Frankish monarchy re-united under Chlotar I. 

508—774. Kingdom of the Lombards in Upper and Central Italy, 
founded by Alboin. 

585. Union of the empire of the Suevi with that of the Visigoths. 

013. The Frankish monarchy re-united under Chlotar II. 

022. Flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. 

032. Death of Mohammed. 

032—GG1. Four caliphs of the race of Kureish, viz. Abu Bekr, 
Omar, Othman, and Ali. Conquest of Syria, Palestine, 
Phoenicia, Egypt, the northern coast of Africa, Cyprus, and 
Rhodes. 

001—750. The thirteen Ommaijad caliphs. Great extension of the 
Arabian empire. 

087. Pepin of Heristal sole Major-Domus of the Frankish empire 
(after his victory at Testri). 

711. Victory of Tarik over the Visigoths at Xeres de la Frontera. 

712. The whole of Spain, except Asturia, in possession of the 

Arabians. 

710—754. Bonifacius in Germany. 




CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


159 


A. D. 

732. Charles Martel defeats the Arabians between Tours and 
Poitiers. 

750. Assassination of the Ommaijades. 


Second Period.— From the accession of the Carlovingians and Abbasides 
to the Crusades, about the year 1100. 

750—1258. The Abbaside caliphs. 

752—911 (987). Thu Carlovingians. 

752—758. Pepin the Short. Two expeditions into Italy for the pro¬ 
tection of the pope against the Lombard King Aistulf. 

756—1028. Cordova an independent caliphate. 

768—814. Charlemagne. 

771* Charlemagne becomes sole ruler by the death of his brother 
Carl oman. 

772— 804. War with the Saxons. 

773— 774. Conquest of the Lombardic kingdom. 

778. War in Spain. Defeat of the Mohammedan governors on this 
side the Ebro. Disastrous retreat. 

787—788. Defeat and removal of Duke Tassilo of Bavaria. 

791—799. War with the Avares. Extension of the empire to the 
banks of the Theiss. Subjugation of the Slavish tribes on 
the eastern frontier of the empire. 

800. Charlemagne l’eceives the imperial crown. 

814—840. Lewis the Pious. Partition of the empire among his 
three sons. Birth of Charles the Bald, and consequent re¬ 
division of the empire. The elder sons make war on their 
fathei*. Plans for a further division. 

827—1016. Monarchy of the West-Saxon kings in England. 

840—1370. The Piasts in Poland. 

840—843. Lewis the German and Charles the Bald make war on 
their brother Lothar. 

843. Partition of the Frankish empire by the convention of Verdun. 

864—1598. The Rurik dynasty in Russia. 

867—1056. Macedonian empei’oi’s at Constantinople. 

871—901. Alfred the Great. 

885—887. The Frankish monarchy re-united under Charles the Fat, 
by the exclusion of Charles the Simple. 

887. Charles the Fat deposed. Final division of the Frankish em¬ 
pire into five poi’tions. 

887— 987. The last Carlovingians in France. 

887. Arnulf of Carinthia. Defeat of the Normans near Louvain. 
Arnulf forms an alliance with the Magyars against Zwenti- 
bald, king of the Moravians. 

888— 962. Italy under native sovereigns. 

889— 1301. The Arpads in Hungary. 

About 900. Four Scandinavian kingdoms. 

900—911. Lewis the Child. Germany invaded by the Hungarians. 

911—918. Conrad of Franconia. His authority disputed by the 
nobles. Lorraine annexed to Fi’ance. IiTuptions of the 
Hungarians. 


160 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


A. D. 

919—1024. Saxon Emperors. 

919—930. Henry I. The empire re-united. Lorraine restored to 
Germany. Nine years’ truce with the Hungarians. Mili¬ 
tary improvements. Subjugation of Bohemia and the 
Wendish tribes as far as the Oder. Defeat of the Hun¬ 
garians (at Merseburg). The northern frontier of the 
empire extended to the (so-called) Danawirk. 

936—973. Otho (I.) the Great. Insurrection of the dukes. Ex¬ 
pedition to Jutland. 

951. First Italian campaign. Berengar a vassal of the German 
crown. 

955. Final defeat of the Hungarians on the banks of the Lech. The 
Sclavonians subdued. 

962. Second Italian campaign. Otho crowned at Rome. Berengar 
taken prisoner. 

966—972. Third Italian campaign. War with the Greeks in Lower 
Italy. 

973—983. Otho II. War with Lothar of France for the possession 
of Lorraine. Otho defeated in Lower Italy. His death. 

983—1002. Otho III. Rebellion of Henry, duke of Bavaria. Otho 
crowned at Rome. 

987—1328. The Capets in France. 

1002—1024. Henry II. Wars with the Italians, Poles, and Bo¬ 
hemians. 

1002 . Massacre of all the Danes in England. 

1016—1042. The Danes conquer all England. Canute. 

1024—1125. Franconian Emperors. 

1024—1039. Conrad II. Burgundy annexed to the German crown. 
The March of Schleswig ceded to Canute. A law passed 
rendering the smaller fiefs hereditary. 

1039—1056. Henry III. Greatest extension of the empire. The 
“ Treuga Dei,” or God’s truce. 

1042—1066. Restoration of the Anglo-Saxon kings in England. 

1056— 1106. Henry IV. Regency of the Empress Agnes. Influ¬ 

ence of the Archbishops of Cologne and Bremen. 

1057— 1185. The Byzantine empire under the Comneni and Dukas. 

1066—1154. Norman kings in England. 

1073—1075. The Saxons renounce their allegiance. 

1073—1085. Disputes between Henry and Pope Gregory VII. re¬ 
specting the right of investiture. 

1077* Henry visits the pope at Canossa. 

1087. The Arabian empire in Spain united to Morocco. 

1094. The county of Portugal, at first a Castilian fief, afterwards 
independent. 


Third Period. 

1096—1273. Age of the Crusades. 

1096—1100. The First Crusade. Peter of Amiens. Councils of 
Piacenza and Clermont. Storming of Nicoea and Antiochia. 
Edessa and Antiochia Christian principalities. 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


161 


A. D. 

1099. The Crusaders take Jerusalem. Godfrey de Bouillon 

elected king. Battle of Antioch. 

1099— 1187. Kingdom of Jerusalem. 

1100. Death of Godfrey de Bouillon. 

1100— 1125. Henry V. 

1122. The dispute respecting investiture terminated by the Concordat 
of Worms. 

1125—1137- Lotiiar the Saxon. Bavaria and Saxony united under 
the house of Guelph. Struggles with the Hohenstaufen. 
1130—1194. The sovereignty of the Two Sicilies in the hands of the 
Normans. 

1138—1254. The Hohenstaufen. 

1138—1152. Conrad Til. Henry the Proud deprived of both his 
dukedoms. Siege of Weinsberg. 

1147—1149. The Second Crusade. Edessa taken by the Turks. 
Unsuccessful campaign of Conrad III. and Louis VII. in 
Palestine. 

1152—1190. Frederick (I.) Barbarossa. His first Italian cam¬ 
paign. Destruction of three of the Lombard cities. Ex¬ 
ecution of Arnold of Brescia. Bavaria restored to Henry 
the Lion. 

1154—1399. England under the house of Plantagenet. 

1158—116*2. Frederick’s second Italian campaign. The Milanese 
humbled. Diet on the Roncalian plain. Milan destroyed. 
11GG—1168. Frederick again visits Italy for the purpose of placing 
Paschal 111. on the papal throne. Returns without his army. 
Alexandria built. 

1174—1178. Fifth Italian campaign. Defection of Henry the Lion. 
1176. Frederick defeated at Legnano. 

1183. Peace concluded at Constance between Frederick and the 
Lombards. Henry the Lion placed under the ban of the 
empire, and his estates divided. 

1186. Sixth Italian campaign. Frederick’s son Henry marries Con¬ 

stance, heiress of Apulia and Sicily. 

1185—1204. The Byzantine empire under the house of Angelus. 

1187. Defeat of the Christians at Hittin. Jerusalem re-taken by the 

Turks. 

1189— 1193. Third Crusade. Death of Frederick Barbarossa. 

The Teutonic order instituted in the camp before Acre. 
Misunderstanding between Philip II. and Richard Coeur de 
Lion. Truce with Salad in. The kingdom of Cyprus. Cap¬ 
tivity of Richard. 

1190— 1197. Henry VI. His cruelties in Apulia and Sicily. 

1194—1266. Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under the Hohenstaufen. 
1198—1208. Philip of Swabia and Otho IV. Ten years’ dispute 
terminated by the assassination of Philip, by Otho of 
Wittelsbach. 

1203—1204. The Fourth (so-called) Crusade. The Crusaders visit 
Constantinople for the purpose of replacing the Emperor 
Isaac on the throne. They quarrel with the emperor. Con¬ 
stantinople taken. 


162 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


A. D. 

1204—1261. The Latin empire. Division of the empire. Sove¬ 
reignties of Nicrna and Trebizond. 

1206. Temudschin becomes Tschingis-Khan. Religious wars in the 
south of France. The Cathari and Waldenses. 

1208—1215. Otho IV. sole emperor. He quarrels with the pope. 

1212. The Childrens’ Crusade. 

1215. Magna Charta Libertatum in England. 

1215—1250. Frederick II. His disputes with the pope respecting 
the union of the German and Sicilian crowns, and the 
crusade. 

1224. Victory of the Mongols on the Kalka. 

1228. Crusade of Frederick II. Treaty with Sultan Camel. 
Jerusalem restored to the Christians. 

1230—1283. War between the Teutonic order and the Prussians. 

1237- Frederick defeats the Lombards at Cortenuova. Second 
irruption of the Mongols. Russia subject to them for more 
than 200 years. 

1241. Victory of the Mongols at Wahlstatt. They invade Hungary. 

Henry of Thuringia elected emperor in opposition to Frede¬ 
rick. He dies at the end of a year. Election of William of 
Holland. 

1248. The Sixth Crusade. Louis IX. in Egypt. 

1250—1256. Conrad IV. (f 1254) and William of Holland rival 
emperors. 

1256—1273. The interregnum in Germany. Richard of Cornwall 
and Alfonso of Castille. 

1258. End of the Arabian caliphate in Bagdad. 

1266. Charles of Anjou defeats Manfred near Benevento. Conquers 
Italy and Sicily. 

1268. Conradin defeated near Scurcola, and executed at Naples. 

1270. The Seventh Crusade. Lewis IX. dies before Tunis. 

Fourth Period. 

1273—1492. From the end of the Crusades to the Discovery 
of America. 

1273—1291. Rudolf of Habsburg. War with Ottocar of Bohemia. 
The house of Habsburg acquires Austria, Styria, and Ca- 
rinthia. 

1282. Sicilian vespers. Expulsion of the French from Sicily. 

1291. The Christians lose Acre, the last of their possessions in 
Palestine. 

1292—1298. Adolphus of Nassau. War with the sons of Albert 
the Degenerate (of Thuringia). Adolphus slain in the battle 
of Worms. 

1298—1308. Albert I. of Austria. 

1305. The papal see transferred to Avignon. 

1307. The Swiss confederation. 

1308. Albert assassinated by his nephew. 

1308—1313. Henry VII. of Luxemburg. Bohemia re-annexed to 
the German crown. 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 


163 


A. D. 

1309. Head-quarters of the Teutonic order transferred to Marienburg. 



1313—1347. J 
1330. S 


i 

' > Lewis IV. the Bavarian, with Frederick of Austria. 


1315. Leopold of Austria defeated by the Swiss at Morgarten. 

1322. Battle of Miihldorf. Frederick taken prisoner. Lewis and 
Frederick reign conjointly. Lewis quarrels with Pope 
John XXII. 

1328—1498. Elder line of the house of Valois in France. 

1338. The electoral diet at Rhense declares the emperor independent 
of the pope. 

1339—1453. War between England and France in consequence of 
the claims of the King of England to the French throne. 
The English victorious at Sluys, Crecy, Maupertuis, and 
Agincourt. Charles of Bohemia elected king in opposition to 
Louis; and (after the death of Louis) Count GUnther of 
Schwarzburg in opposition to Charles. 

1347—1437. German kings of the house of Bohemia_Luxemburg. 

1347—1378. Charles IV. 

1348. First German university - founded at Prague. 

1356. The Golden Bull. 

1378—1400. Wenceslaus. Repeated attempts to establish a univer¬ 
sal peace throughout Germany. 

1397- The union of Calmar. 

1399— 1461. The house of Lancaster in England. 

1400— 1410. Rupert of the Palatinate. —Unsuccessful expedition 

against Wenceslaus. 

1414—1418. Council of Constance. Termination of the papal 
schism. Four concordats instead of a real reform in the 
Church. Martyrdom of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 

1417. The March of Brandenburg granted as a fief to the Burgrave, 
Frederick of NUrnberg, of the house of Hohenzollern. 

1419—1436. The Hussite war. John Ziska (t 1424). Five un¬ 
successful campaigns of the imperial army against the 
insurgents in Bohemia. The war terminated by a convention 
between the insurgents and the council of Basle. 

1429—1431. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. 

1438—1806. Emperors of the house of Austria. 

1438—1439. Albert II. Unfortunate expedition against the Turks. 

1440—1493. Frederick II. 

1453. Constantinople taken bt the Turks. 

1459—1485. War of the red and white roses in England. 

1461—1485. England under the house of York. 

1466. West-Prussia incorporated with Poland. East-Prussia a 
Polish fief. 

1476. Charles the Bold of Burgundy defeated at Murten and Granson. 

1477. Charles of Burgundy slain at Nancy. Austria acquires the 

Netherlands and Burgundy by the marriage of Maximilian 
with Mary of Burgundy. 

1486. Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope. 

1492. Columbus discovers America. 


QUESTIONS. 




§ 1. Geography of Germany in the First Century after Christ. 

[1] In what part of Germany were the principal Roman settlements 
a at the commencement of the first centui’y ? By what works were 
these settlements protected? To whom did the territory south¬ 
ward and westward of this frontier belong ? Into how many 
b provinces was it divided, and what were their names ? By what 
people was the rest of Germany inhabited ? 

£2] By what Roman writers is the soil of Germany described ? 
What account do they give of it ? What forest is particularly 
mentioned, and what was its extent? How was the climate 
a affected by these peculiarities of the soil ? What animals were 
produced in Germany? Describe the vegetable and mineral 
productions of the soil. 

[3] Into how many nations were the Germans divided at this 
b period ? Name the first of these divisions, and the various tribes 
of which it was composed, with their respective positions. 

f 4] Name the second division with its tribes. 

[5] Name the third division. To what nations is this general 
c term applied by Tacitus ? How many of these tribes are espe¬ 
cially mentioned by the historian ? Why are they thus particu¬ 
larized ? Name and describe each of them. Of how many 
smaller tribes was the second of these composed ? What deity 
d did they worship ? Name the other tribes belonging to the same 
stock, but not especially mentioned by the historian. What cir¬ 
cumstances indicate the common descent of all these tribes from 
a distinct and unmixed race ? 

§ 2. Religion , Manners , and Customs in the First Century of the 

Christian Mira. 

£<>] Under what names was the Supreme Being worshipped by the 
a Germans ? Where were sacrifices offered to these deities, and 
from what occurrences were auguries derived ? What was their 
idea of a future state ? Describe the peculiarities of a German 
chief’s funeral. 

[7] What distinction existed between freemen and serfs? At 
b what seasons did their great national councils assemble, and for 
what purposes ? How were the assent and disapprobation of the 
assembly expressed ? To what privileges were their young men 
admitted at these assemblies ? From what classes were their 
princes and dukes chosen ? What was the extent of their 
authority ? 



QUESTIONS. 


165 


8 — 14 .] 

[8] Describe their arms offensive and defensive. In what figure 
c was their order of battle formed, and how was it protected ? 

What religious ceremony was performed before and during the 
battle \ To whom were they frequently indebted for victory 
after the failure of their first attack ? 

[9] Describe the habitations of the ancient Germans. Explain the 
n terms mark , zent, and gau. Describe the ordinary summer and 
a winter dress of men and women. What were the two chief 

employments of their lives \ By whom was the soil cultivated ? 
How did they pass most of their leisure time ? What subjects 
were frequently discussed at their feasts ? What were the dis- 
B tinguishing virtues of the Germans ? In what manner was 
atonement made for violations of the law ? 

§ 3. History of the Germans to the Period of the Migrations. 

[10J To whom were the shores of the Baltic probably known from 
the remotest antiquity 1 With what events do our first distinct 
accounts of the Germans commence ? Mention some instances, 
c Who were the most formidable of these invaders, and what 
Roman post did they attack \ Describe the next migration. 
Who was their leader \ By whom and at what place was he 
n defeated ? What nations were subdued by Caesar l By whom 
was the subjugation of Gaul completed ? What decisive victory 
a did he gain l What emperor formed a body-guard of Germans ? 
What nations were subdued by his step-sons X What measures 
were adopted by Drusus for the subjugation of the Low German 
b tribes ? How far did he advance 1 Name the two first unions 
of German tribes. 

[11] By whom was the war in Germany continued after the death 
of Drusus ? What empire did he threaten, and of what tribes 
was it composed ? By whom was this empire founded l What 

c occurrence put an end to the war? What was the position of 
the Romans in Germany at this period \ What circumstances 
occasioned a confederation of the Low German tribes ? Who 
was the Roman governor, and what was his conduct ? By 
D whom was he resisted ? Where were the Romans attacked, and 
what was the result of the battle l What measures were adopted 
a by Augustus in consequence of this disaster ? By whom was 
the slaughter of the Roman legions avenged ? In what battle l 
What prevented the re-establishment of Roman supremacy in 
Germany ? 

[12] What German tribes renounced their allegiance to Marbod at 
B this period ? By whom were their places supplied \ What was 

the result of these secessions \ What became of Marbod ? What 
w r as the fate of Herman ? [Arminius.] 

[13] After the dissolution of these confederacies, what was the 
c result of the Roman policy in Germany \ Were not some 

attempts made to throw off the Roman yoke \ With what suc¬ 
cess \ 

[14] On what occasion do we first hear of the Vandals and Alans X 
d By whom were several campaigns undertaken against these- 


I 


166 


QUESTIONS TO IIANDBOO^ 


[15—23. 


a barbarians, and where did he die ? By whom and on what con¬ 
ditions was peace granted to several German tribes ? 

[15] Of what tribes was the confederacy in Western Germany com- 
b posed ? 

[16] How many confederacies existed in Eastern Germany? To 
c what circumstances may the origin of these confederacies be 

traced ? In what countries did the Goths first appear, and 
where did they carry on their warfare ? Who re-established 
d the frontier wall between the Rhine and Danube ? What trans¬ 
plantation of German tribes took place at the same time ? Trace 
the progress of the Alemanni and Franks. How were these 
a encroachments met by the Romans ? By what general and 
where -were the Alemanni defeated ? By whom were they 
finally expelled from Gaul ? 


§ 4. Destruction of the Gothic empire by the Iluns. 

[17] What portions of Europe were occupied by the Ostrogoths 
b and Visigoths in the fourth century ? By whom were they 

governed ? 

[18] What German tribe first embraced Christianity ? Was their 
c belief orthodox or heretical ? At what council was a Gothic 

bishop present ? Who was his successor and what book did he 
translate into the Gothic language ? 

[19] What quarter of the globe did the Huns originally inhabit ? 
To what empire had they rendered themselves formidable ? 

d What barrier was erected against their encroachments ? Into 
how many kingdoms was the Hunnish empire divided at a later 
period ? By whom was their Northern kingdom overthrown ? 
By what tribe were they encountered between the Volga and the 
Don ? What was the result of the contest between the Huns 
and Goths ? 

[19] Where were the Visigoths permitted to settle ? What in- 
a duced them to revolt ? What auxiliaries did they call in, and 
what was the result of their expedition into Thrace ? What 
became of Valens ? By whom was he succeeded ? What terms 
B did the new emperor make with the Goths ? Who was chosen 
king of the Visigoths, and for what reason ? What country did 
they invade ? By whom were they compelled to retire ? What 
command was conferred on Alaric ? 


§ 5. General immigration of the Barbarians into the Countries of the 

West. 

[20] What country was next invaded by Alaric, and with what 
c success ? 

[21] What German chief led his forces into Italy? What was 
their fate ? 

[22] In what direction did the grand movement take place from 
d the interior of Germany ? What countries Avere respect¬ 
ively occupied by the Burgundians, Alani, Vandals, and Suevi ? 

a What portion of the Spanish Peninsula remained in the hands 
of the Romans ? 

[23] How often Avas Rome besieged by Alaric ? What Avas the 


OF MEDI/EVAL HISTORY. 


24 — 29 .] 


167 


result of the last attack ? How were the inhabitants punished ? 
B Where did Alaric die, and where was he bui’ied ? By whom 
was he succeeded ? What countries did he invade ? Who was 
the next Gothic sovereign ? What nations did he conquer ? 
Where did he fix the seat of government ? 

[24] What new empire was established by the Vandals ? By whom 
C were they led ? What w as the capital of the Vandalic empire ? 

What islands did it comprehend ? 

[25] What was the condition of the Britons at this time ? To 
d whom did they apply in vain for protection ? What German 

tribes accepted their invitations ? By whom were they com¬ 
manded ? What kingdoms did they establish in Britain ? What 
became of the original inhabitants ? 

§ 6. Dissolution of the Hunnish empire. 

[20] What became of the Huns after the conquest of the Ostro- 
a gotlis ? Under whose command did they again become formid- 
B able ? With whom did he share the throne ? By whom w r as 
Attila persuaded to invade the Eastern empire ? What emperor 
was defeated by him ? Under what circumstances was the siege 
of Constantinople raised ? Where and by what generals was 
C Attila defeated ? By what peculiarity was this battle distin¬ 
guished ? For what reason, and with what success, did Attila 
invade Italy ? What became of the inhabitants of the Lombard 
D cities ? At whose instance was peace granted to the Romans ? 
What happened to the Hunnish empire after the death of Attila ? 
What was its extent in his lifetime ? By what nations were 
new kingdoms formed ? 

§ 7* Dissolution of the Western Roman empire. 

[27] By what circumstances was the progress of the Germanic 
a tribes favoured? By whom was the capital of the Western 

empire plundered ? Over what countries did the Visigoths ex¬ 
tend their empire ? What tribes spread over Gaul ? By whom 
were the attempts of the Romans to reconquer Africa rendered 
B abortive ? Who was Odoacer ? What sovereign did he depose, 
and by whom was he proclaimed King of Italy ? By whom was 
the last Roman governor compelled to evacuate Gaul ? 

§ 8. Empires in Italy. 

[28] By whom was the Italian empire established in 476 ? Who 
a was Theodoric, and what plan did he propose to the emperor 

Zeno ? What religion did he profess ? What victories did he 
gain, and what Italian city did he besiege and take ? What was 
b the fate of Odoacer ? By what surname is Theodoric generally 
distinguished ? 

[29] By whom was he recognized as king of Italy ? Over what 
countries did he extend his empire ? Where did he establish 
the imperial residence ? By what name is he commonly known 

c in Germany ? To what circumstances do you attribute the 
a prosperity of Italy during his reign ? Among what princes did 
he succeed in maintaining peace ? Which of the German sove- 


168 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 30 — 34 . 


reigns opposed his plans ? To whom was the Yisigothic 
throne secured ? AVhat circumstance occasioned the death of 
jb Theodoric ? By whom was he succeeded ? In whose name did 
she govern ? What was her fate ? Under what pretence did 
Justinian revive the claims of the Eastern emperor to the 
throne of Italy ? What was the result of this demand ? What 
was the name of the Byzantine general, and what advantages 
were gained by him ? How were these advantages lost ? Under 
c what leader were the Goths victorious ? What German tribes 
fought as mercenaries against their countrymen,and under what 
leader? What was the fate of Totila? What became of one 
portion of the Goths ? By whom were the remainder over- 
d thrown ? What form of government was now established in 
Italy ? 

[30] By whom were the Romans compelled to relinquish their 
sovereignty over the whole of Italy ? How long had they 

a exercised this authority ? To what territories were they now 
restricted ? 

[31] What nation was subdued by the Langobardi on their return 
from Italy ? By whom were they commanded ? By what 
nation were they assisted ? What portion of Italy did they 
wrest fi*om the Byzantines ? What name was given to this 

b portion ? What city was made the capital of this new kingdom ? 
What was the fate of Alboin ? By whom was he succeeded ? 
What was the extent of the Lombard empire during his reign ? 
What was his fate, and what form of government was established 
c after his death ? Who was chosen king when the restoration of 
monarchy was found necessary ? By whom were many of the 
Lombards converted to the orthodox faith ? Within what limits 
d was the exarchate confined by succeeding Lombard kings ? By 
whom were the Lombards compelled to cede a portion of the 
coast of the Adriatic to the pope ? What was the effect of this 
a concession ? What circumstance occasioned the incorporation 
of the Langobardic empire into that of the Franks ? 

§ 9. Empire of the Vandals in Africa. 

[32] What was the extent of the empire in Africa ? What islands 
in the Mediterranean did it also comprehend ? 

[33] By whom was Geiseric [Genseric] invited into Italy ? What was 
b the result of this invasion ? What became of Eudoxia ? What 

measures were adopted for clearing the Mediteri'anean of Vandal 
C pirates ? What was the result ? By what circumstances was 
the decline of the Vandal empix*e accelerated ? In what manner 
did Justinian avail himself of this position of affairs? What 
D sovereign occupied the Vandal throne at this time ? What was 
the issue of the attack on Carthage, and by what important con- 
a sequences was it followed ? What became of Gelimer and his 
Vaudal soldiers ? 

§ 10. Empire of the Suevi in Spain. 

[34] By what nation had Boetica been occupied since the departure 
of the Vandals ? Who was their first Christian sovereign ? By 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


169 


35—40.] 

whom, and fox’ what reason, was lie attacked ? What was his 
b fate ? By whom was a new Suevic kingdom established, and 
into what empire was it finally incorporated ? 

§11. Empire of the Visigoths. 

[35] What was the extent of the Visigothic empire in Gaul ? What 
C portion remained in their hands after the battle of Vougle ? 
d Describe their possessions in Spain at different pei’iods. What 
African territory belonged to them ? 

[30] Who was the founder of the Visigothic empire, and by whom 
a was he succeeded ? What conquests were achieved by this 
sovereign, and what was his fate ? What nations were subdued 
by Theodoric II. and Eui’ic ? Who succeeded Euric on the 
throne ? With whom did the Visigothic Catholics form an alli¬ 
ance ? Under what pretence did he attack Alaric II.? Where 
was the battle fought, and with what result ? What was the 
fate of Alaric ? What portion of their possessions in Gaul were 
B the Visigoths allowed to retain ? In whose reign, and for how 
long a period, wei’e the Visigothic and Ostrogothic empires 
united ? To what place was the imperial residence transferred 
after the death of Amalric ? By whom, and under what cireum- 
stances, was he slain ? 

[37] By what people was the Visigothic empire still further cir- 
c cumsci’ibed ? By whose invitation did they invade the country ? 

What tribes were l'educed to submission by Leuwigild ? 

[38] To what object was the attention of the Visigothic kings 
d dii’ected after the expulsion of the Greeks from Spain ? What 

foreign conquest was achieved during this period ? By whom, 
and under what cii’cumstances, were the Arabians invited over 
from Africa ? By whom was their army commanded ? Who 
a w’as king of the Goths at this time, and whei'e did he encounter 
the invaders 1 How long did the battle last, and what was the 
result ? By whom wei’e the Moorish generals recalled ? What 
division of the Pyrensean peninsula took place after their depar¬ 
ture ? By whom was Arabian Spain governed, and until what 
period ? 

§ 12. Empire of the Burgundians in Gaul. 

[39] What name was pi’obably given by Tacitus to the Burgun- 
B dians ? In what part of Eui’ope did they first appear in the 

first century ? What disaster compelled them to retire west- 
c wards ? Where did they next settle ? What was their form of 
govex’nment ? For what l'easons wei’e their kings set aside ? 
By whom, and under what circumstances, was their kingdom 
D conquered and divided ? What privileges were the Burgundians 
permitted to retain ? 

§ 13. Empire of the Franks under the Merovingians. 

[40] How did the Franks obtain settlements in Gaul ? Into how 
a many principal branches were they divided ? By what monarch 
b was the Roman supremacy in Gaul destroyed? What people 

I 


170 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 41 — 45 . 

did lie subdue ? By whom was he assisted ? Why did he 
embrace the Catholic religion ? By whom was he crowned ? 
C What nations were reduced by him to the condition of ti'ibuta- 
ries ? Did they ever recover their independence ? Under what 
pretence did he attack the Visigoths ? Where was the battle 
fought, and what was the result ? To what city did he now' 
d transfer his residence ? By whom were the Frankish clans 
united into one kingdom ? By what means was this arrange¬ 
ment facilitated ? Into how many portions was the Frankish 
empire divided after the death of Clovis ? By whom were these 
new kingdoms governed, and where did they respectively fix 
their residences ? What conquest was achieved by the king of 
Metz? With whom did he share the Burgundian territory? 
a By w-hat accession of territory was the empire of the Franks 
further augmented ? What privilege were the Bavarians per¬ 
mitted to retain ? 

[41] Under what sovereign was the Frankish empire re-united? 
Into how many portions was it divided after his death ? How 
long did this arrangement continue ? What was the next divi- 

b sion ? Describe these kingdoms, and give the names of their 
c respective capitals ? 

[42] What city continued to be the common capital of the three 
kingdoms ? 

[43] What was the character of Clothaire’s successors ? By whose 
misconduct were these calamities chiefly occasioned ? Under 

d what sovereign was the empire a second time united ? What 
change took place in the administration of the Frankish empire 
during the reign of Clothaire II.? 

[44] How many of these officers were there, and what district was 
a assigned to each ? What were their duties ? By whom was the 

Frankish monarchy united for the third time ? Who became 
major domus of the whole empire ? What nation soon separated 
itself from the empire ? What was the character of the Frankish 
kings, and what authority was exercised by tbe majores domus 
during this period ? On whom was the title of duke and prince 
B of the Franks conferred ? After what victory ? By whom was 
the successor to the office of major domus disputed after his 
death ? In whose favour was the dispute finally decided ? What 
c conquests were achieved by him ? By whom was the Merovin¬ 
gian dynasty supplanted ? How had he conciliated the clergy ? 

§14. Religion, Manners, and Customs of the West, particularly of the 

Frankish empire. 

[45] By what German tribes were Arianism and Catholicism re- 
d spectively adopted ? What tribes were afterwards persuaded to 
a renounce Arianism ? What was the religion of the Germans at 

the commencement of this period ? Into what had the pure 
adoration of nature which they originally professed degenerated ? 
b Prove this by an instance. What nations remained in a state of 
heathenism after the conversion of Clovis ? At what period did 
c the Burgundians embrace the Catholic religion ? By whom was 
the Gospel most effectually propagated in Germany ? By what 


46-51.] OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 171 

title was he generally known ? What offices did he fill in the 
Church ? What was his fate ? 

[4G] What was the origin of the Christian monastic life ? Who 
D was the chief of the Egyptian monks ? By whom were they 
a assembled within the walls of one building ? What names were 
given to this house ? What was the title of their president ? 
By whom was a new form given to this institution in the West ? 
n For what convent was his “rule” originally framed? What 
were its provisions ? What was the general character of these 
monks between the sixth and ninth centuries, and what results 
were produced ? 

[47] What circumstances rendered the excommunication of the 
c Church and the ban of the empire inseparable ? Mention some 

instances in which the privileges of the Church were violated 
by the kings. In what causes did the bishops exercise a peculiar 
jurisdiction ? What was the heaviest ecclesiastical punishment ? 

[48] Of how many sorts were the warlike enterprises of the ancient 
D German states ? Who was the leader in each of these instances ? 
a What proportion of the land belonging to the vanquished was 
B generally claimed by the conquerors ? In what manner was the 

German throne at once hereditary and elective ? How was the 
successful candidate inaugurated ? What offices in the royal 
c household were held by the nobles of the kingdom ? What 
addition was made to this order after the introduction of Chris¬ 
tianity ? In what did the power of the kings consist ? What 
circumstances indicate their dependence on the Roman em- 
D perors ? In what other particulars was the influence of Rome 
perceptible ? 

[49] What division was made of the territory obtained by con- 
a quest ? What name was given to these allotments ? What 

privilege was enjoyed by the possessors of them ? What was 
the origin of vassalage ? On what terms were the fiefs held ? 
b Who was the chief of these vassals, and what was his office ? 
C How did these fiefs become hereditary ? Under what circum¬ 
stances were many of the allodes converted into feudal estates ? 
What revolution took place in their military system ? Of whom 
was the army now composed ? Describe the manner in which 
these parties respectively were called into active sei’vice. How 
often, and in what place, was the Frankish army reviewed ? 

[50] Among what nations, and at what period, wei’e written laws 
d first introduced ? In what language were all these codes drawn 
a up? Was there not one exception? Under what circum¬ 
stances were they probably compiled ? What laws are found in 
the statute books of the eastern and western Goths and Bur- 

B gundians ? What remarkable difference existed between the 
punishments inflicted on serfs and on freemen ? How many 
C sorts of courts of justice had they? How many sorts of proof? 
By what circumstances was agricultural improvement in some 
measure retarded ? 

[51 ] What obstacles also existed to the advancement of manufacturing 
a and commercial industry ? To what causes do you attribute the 
little influence exercised by Christianity during this period ? 

i 2 


172 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [52 — 57* 

[52] In whose hands was scientific knowledge at this time? De¬ 
scribe their system of education. What do you understand by 
the terms Trivium and Quadrivium ? Where were the best 

b educational establishments ? Mention some of their most dis¬ 
tinguished scholars. In what language were all the works of 
this period written ? 

[53] Enumerate the most important of these works. What speci- 
C mens have we of the transition from the ancient to the modern 

style of architecture ? 

§ 15. The Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) empire. 

[54] What were the limits of the Byzantine empire from a. d. 395 
d to 534 ? What additions were made to the empire in subsequent 
a years ? What losses did it sustain in the seventh, eighth, and 

ninth centuries ? What military arrangement was adopted 
during this period ? 

[55] What portion did Arcadius receive at the partition of the em- 
B pire by Theodosius ? What was his character ? Mention the 

names of some of his favourites. By what concessions were the 
Huns and Visigoths conciliated ? By whom was Arcadius suc¬ 
ceeded ? Who was his guardian ? What further concessions 
c were extorted from him by the Huns ? Was not this loss coun¬ 
terbalanced by an accession of territory? By whom, and under 
what title, was the first digest of laws published ? What pro¬ 
vinces were added to the empire by his immediate successors ? 
d Name the first emperor crowned by the patriarch of Constan¬ 
tinople. Against what nation did he undertake an expedition, 
and with what success ? Who was placed in his hands as secu¬ 
rity for the fulfilment of a treaty by the Ostrogoths ? Where 
was he educated ? How did he afterwards distinguish himself ? 
a Under whose auspices ? What military work was undertaken 
and completed by Anastasius ? By whom was he succeeded ? 

[56] With whom did the new emperor share his throne ? How long 
did they reign conjointly? By whom was Justinian governed ? 
What was his first and greatest work ? Were any other works 

b on jurisprudence published during his reign? What was the 
c Nika? How was it suppressed ? What buildings were restored 
after the suppression of the insurrection ? By what measures 
D did Justinian secure his northern and eastern frontiers? What 
great work did he next undertake ? By what general was the 
empire of the Vandals destroyed ? By whom was the Ostro- 
gothic empire conquered and annexed to the Byzantine empii*e? 
a What Persian king renewed the war ? On what terms was 
B peace concluded ? By whom was the imperial exchequer left 
full, and how was it exhausted during this reign ? 

[57] Who succeeded Justinian on the throne? What important 
C military operations were commenced or renewed in his reign ? 

What heavy losses were sustained by the Emperor Heraclius ? 
n By what tribes were the suburbs of his capital attacked ? What 
plan was proposed by the emperor in this extremity ? By whom 
was he persuaded to abandon it ? What was the result of this 
change of policy ? What losses did the empire sustain soon 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


58 — 64.1 


173 


a afterwards? By the encroachments of what nations were the 
limits of the empire still further circumscribed ? By whom and 
how often was the city of Constantinople itself besieged ? How 
b were the besiegers repulsed ? What was the intestine condition 
c of the empire at this time ? To what cause do you attribute the 
D religious feuds of this period ? Mention the most remarkable of 
a these controversies. By what council was the worship of images 
condemned ? By whom was their restoration at last effected ? 
b What act prepared the way for the separation of the Greek and 
Roman Churches? What was the fate of Michael III.? 

[58] From what emperor did the Roman empire receive a constitu- 
c tion? By whom were the emperors crowned? What title did 

they assume ? How did they endeavour to conceal their real weak¬ 
ness ? Of what description of persons was the supreme delibe¬ 
rative council composed ? What change took place in the mode 
d of reckoning time ? By what sort of persons were the provinces 
governed ? 

[59] What languages were spoken by the court after its removal to 
Constantinople? To what species of composition was poetry 

a restricted ? In what cities do we find the most flourishing 
schools of philosophy? Where was the most renowned school of 
jurisprudence? Where was medicine most successfully studied ? 
What was the character of the Byzantine historians? 

[GO] By what favorable circumstances was new life given to art? 
B What were the distinguishing features of ancient Christian ar¬ 
chitecture? Where are these peculiarities seen in the greatest 
c perfection ? To what descriptions of work were sculptors con¬ 
fined ? In what age do we find the earliest specimens of Chris¬ 
tian sculpture ? Into what western countries did the Byzantine 
style of architecture find its way? 

[61 ] By what artists was a knowledge of painting generally diffused ? 
n By what obstacles were the operations of commerce impeded ? 
a In what manner was trade carried on with the shores of the 
Mediterranean and with India ? What city was the principal 
emporium for western as well as eastern produce? To what 
circumstances do you ascribe the success of manufacturing 
industry ? 

[62] By whom, and from what country, were silk-worms brought to 
b Constantinople ? What was the moral condition of the people at 

this period ? 

§ 16. Geography of Arabia. 

[63] What is the extent of the Arabian peninsula? What is the 
c character of the soil ? What name was given by the ancients to 

the south-westei’n portion? By what description of persons is 
i) it inhabited? Name their most celebrated cities. What was 
their religion before the time of Mohammed? By what name 
was their national sanctuary distinguished ? By what family was 
it superintended ? What rites were practised by the Arabians 
in common with the Jews and Egyptians? 

[64] To whom do the Arabians trace their origin ? To what people 
a was one of the districts of Arabia for a short time subject? 

i 3 


174 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [65 - 71. 

[65] Where and in what year was Mohammed born? By whom 
B was he brought up ? What fortunate circumstance enabled him 

to gratify his taste for seclusion ? Where did he pass one month 
in every year? Of what commission did he proclaim himself 
c the bearer? To whom was this doctrine exclusively preached 
at first? By whom was he opposed? What was the effect of 
this persecution ? From what event do the Arabians date their 
sera? Where did he assume the authority of king? Whom did 
he marry? By what means were his doctrines propagated? In 
what city did he establish the national sanctuary ? What con¬ 
quests did he achieve? What potentates did he invite to 
D embrace Islamism? Where did he die? What issue did he 
leave behind him? 

[66] Who was the first caliph? What celebrated work did he 
compile? What wars were begun by his general? By whom 
was he succeeded ? 

[67] What city was taken by his generals? Were any other con- 
a quests achieved by them? For what purpose did he visit Pa¬ 
lestine? On what terms was toleration granted to the Chris¬ 
tians? What fortunate event enabled the Arabians to take rank 
as a naval power ? By whom was Egypt subdued ? What ac¬ 
count of the destruction of the Alexandrian library is supposed 
to be incorrect? 

[68] By whom was Omar succeeded? What conquests were com- 
b pleted by him ? What famous work of art was sold? What was 

the fate of Othman ? 

[69] By whom was he succeeded? By whom was the new calipli 
placed on the throne? Why was he not generally recognized? 

c What measures did he adopt for the purpose of strengthening 
his authority ? By whom was he resisted ? What conspiracy 
was entered into, and what were its results? In whose favour 
was Ali compelled to abdicate? 

[70] From whom is the name of Ommaijad derived? To what 
place did the first caliph of this race transfer the royal resi- 

a dence? What other important change did he effect? Under 
what sovereigns were the Arabian dominions most extensive ? 
By whom were they invited into Africa? What conquests did 
B they achieve in that quarter of the globe ? By whom were they 
invited into Spain ? Where did they engage the Goths, and 
with what success? By whom were the Arabian generals 
C recalled? How was the bravery of Musa rewarded? What 
privileges were the Spanish Christians permitted to retain ? By 
whom was an attempt made to wrest Gaul from the Frankish 
kings, and with what success? Where were battles fought? 
D What eastern countries were subdued by the Arabians? What 
was the effect of their success in India? In what struggles 
were the reigning dynasty engaged during the progress of these 
events? By whom Avas the throne of the Abbasides firmly 
a established ? What sanguinary measures Avere adopted for the 
destruction of the Ommaijad dynasty? Which of the Ommaijad 
princes escaped,and where did he establish himself? 

[71] In what light was Islamism viewed by its founder? Name 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


175 


72 — 78 .] 

b the different branches of the Mohammedan system. What are 
c its principal articles of faith? What duties are enjoined by the 
moral law ? What sins are permitted? Of what writings do the 
sacred books of the Mohammedans consist? Was any other 
d work subsequently published ? To what sects did the publica¬ 
tion of this work give birth ? To what circumstances do you 
attribute the rapid propagation of Mohammedanism ? 

[72] In whom was the supreme authority vested? What share 
A had the people in the administration ? At what period did the 

power of the caliphs become completely despotic? To what 
circumstances do you ascribe the gradual increase of luxury ? 
What authority was possessed by the lieutenants of the pro¬ 
vinces? What effects resulted at a later period from their 
possession of this authority? 

[73] What specimens of early Arabian poetry are extant? Where 
B are the names of their authors inscribed? What circumstances 

prevented the cultivation of science during the reign of the 
Abbasides? With the erection of what works did the golden 
C age of Arabian architecture commence? Why were painting 
and sculpture utterly neglected ? 

[74] Why were trade and manufactures in high estimation among 
the Arabians? How far did their maritime trade extend west- 

d ward and southward ? By what means was their land traffic 
carried on ? Where were the principal markets for eastern and 
a western produce? On what shores did commerce especially 
flourish ? 

§17- The modern Persian empire. 

[75] By whom was the Persian empire founded? What was its 
extent under Chosroes I. and II.? Into how many provinces 

B was it divided ? Wbat name was given to the capital city with 
its subprbs? 

[76] With what nations were the Persians generally at war? 
c What is recorded of Chosroes I.? Before whom was he com¬ 
pelled to retreat? On what conditions did he renounce his 
claims on Colchis? How long did he reign? By what measures 

d did he promote the prosperity of the empire? To what offices 
was the government of the four provinces entrusted ? How did 
he encourage agricultural entei’prise? What plans did he adopt 
for the promotion of learning ? 

§ 18. The Sclavonians. 

[77] By what names were the eastern neighbours of Germany dis- 
a tinguished until the beginning of the fifth century? For what 

name was the last of these exchanged? By whom were these 
tribes incorporated into the Gothic and Hunnish empires? 
What territory did they retain after the dissolution of these 
b kingdoms? Into how many tribes were they divided? Who 
was recognized as king by most of the Slavish tribes? What 
happened to the Slavish confederacy after his death ? Mention 
some of the new empires which arose from its ruins? Under 
whose dominion did the southern Slaves remain ? 

[78] Mention some particulars in which a similarity is discernible 

i 4 


176 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [78-86. 

c between the Slavish and Germanic tribes? What traces do we 
d find of physical and moral difference ? Did their languages at all 
a resemble one another? 

§ 19. Other nations in the East of Europe. 

[79] In what countries did the Avari establish themselves? What 
b was the extent of their empire in the year GOO? By the seces¬ 
sion of what states were its limits circumscribed in the following 
century? 

[80] What countries had been occupied from time immemorial by 
c the Bulgarians? In what century did they invade the Byzantine 
d empire? What barriers did they surmount? To whom were 

they indebted for deliverance from the tyranny of the Avars? 
a How long had they been tributary to that nation ? What por¬ 
tion of his empire was inherited by his third son ? 

[81] Of what countries were the Cliazares masters in the seventh 
century? With what nations were they engaged in almost per¬ 
petual warfare? By whom, and for what purpose, was the 
Caucasian wall erected ? 

§ 20. The Frankish empire under the Carlovingians. 

[82] What kingdoms were governed by Pepin the Short? By 
b whom, and under what circumstances, was Pepin invited into 

Italy? What title was conferred on him by the pope ? Against 
what nation was he enjoined to undertake a crusade? What 
possessions were wrested from the Lombards? To whom were 
a they presented ? What grievous crime had been committed by 
the Frieses? What other nations were subdued by Pepin ? 

[83] Where and in what' year was Charlemagne born? With 
whom did he share the throne ? By what event was he made 
sole king of the Franks? Whom did he exclude from the 
succession ? 

[84] In what manner did this act of injustice eventually occasion 
b the invasion of Lombardy ? In what city was Desiderius be¬ 
sieged? What was the issue of this war? How did Charle¬ 
magne frustrate an attempt of the Lombard nobles to reinstate 
Desiderius on the throne? 

[85] Into how many provinces was the Saxon nation divided? 
c With whom had they been engaged in hostilities from the earliest 
a times? How was the preaching of the Frankish missionaries 

received by the Saxons? What measure was determined on at 
the diet of Worms? What fortress was stormed by Charle¬ 
magne in the first campaign? Against whom did Charlemagne 
march after his first Italian campaign ? What success attended 
n this movement? What happened during his second campaign in 
Italy? Of what act of treachery were the Saxons guilty, and 
how was it punished? What was the immediate effect of this 
c severity? What became of the Wittekind and Alboin? How 
were the Saxons finally subdued ? 

[86] At whose instance did Charlemagne invade Spain? What 
d name was given to the district annexed to the Frankish empire? 
a What celebrated commander was slain at Roncesvalles ? 


87-95.] OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 1/7 

[87] By whom was Duke Tassilo abetted in his rebellion against 
b Charlemagne ? How was he punished ? What punishment was 

inflicted on his confederates ? By what sovereign was the 
whole of their country afterwards ravaged ? By what name was 
it now distinguished ? 

[88] What was the result of the war carried on by Charlemagne’s 
c son against the Danes and Wilzes ? What river was recognized 

as the boundary between the Danish and Frankish territories ? 

[89] What measures were adopted for the defence of the different 
frontiers ? 

[90] By whom and-with what object was Charlemagne invited to 
a visit Rome ? What dignity was conferred on him in return for 
b these services ? What was the character of the new relation 

between the pope and the emperor ? In what manner was this 
supremacy mutually recognized ? 

[91] What bishoprics were founded by Charlemagne in Saxony ? 
c By whom was Charlemagne assisted in the establishment of 
d schools ? What measures were adopted for restoring the re¬ 
spectability of the clergy ? What proofs have we of the affection 

a of Charlemagne for his mother tongue ? What plan was adopted 
for the improvement of church music ? 

[92] To what nations were codes of laws given ? In what manner 
a was a code formed for the empire in general ? By what measure 

was the execution of the laws facilitated ? 

[93] Were any important changes effected in the constitution by 
B Charlemagne ? What sort of opposition did the emperor 

encounter in establishing the feudal system ? What division 
c of estates was still retained ? Which of the court offices 
was abolished, and for what reason ? Who were the em¬ 
peror’s vicegerents in spiritual and in temporal matters ? 

[94] How many general assemblies were held in the course of the 
year ? What name was given to the first of these meetings, and 

d for what purpose was it convened ? At what places was the 
second meeting held ? What sort of questions were decided at 
it ? What plan did Charlemagne adopt for obtaining a more 
a accurate knowledge of each province ? From what classes of 
persons were these officers selected ? What were their duties ? 
From what description of persons was military service required ? 
b What indulgence was granted to those who possessed less than 
the legal qualification ? By whom was the militia of each pro¬ 
vince commanded ? What fine was imposed on those who 
neglected to appear at the place of rendezvous? Were any 
c persons exempt from this service ? On whom was the punish¬ 
ment of death still inflicted ? From what sources were the im¬ 
perial revenues derived ? 

[95] What measures were adopted for the encouragement of com¬ 
merce ? How had it been crippled ? Among whom did Charle- 

d magne divide his empire ? Who succeeded him in the imperial 
and royal dignities ? From whom did he receive his crown ? 
To whom was the kingdom of Italy granted, and on what con¬ 
dition ? When and where did Charlemagne die, and where was 
he buried ? 

I 5 


178 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 96 — 109 . 

[96] What was the character of Lewis the Pious ? What new re- 
a gulations did he promulgate ? Among whom did he divide his 

empire ? Which of his sons was raised to the imperial throne ? 
What portions of the empire were granted to the others ? On 
what prince was an atrocious act of cruelty perpetrated ? Who 
succeeded him as king of Italy ? 

[97] What was the name of the emperor’s second wife, and what 
B issue had he by her ? What provocation occasioned the rebel¬ 
lion of the emperor’s sons ? Where was a battle fought, and 
what name was given to the field ? What was the result of 

c this engagement ? By whom was Lewis restored ? What be¬ 
came of Pepin and his sons ? Among whom, and by whose 
advice, were the dominions of Lewis divided ? What district 
was allotted to each ? 

[98] What circumstances occasioned the battle of Fontenay, and 
a what was its result ? What famous treaty was concluded at the 

[99] end of this war ? 

[100] Describe the districts severally allotted to the three sons of 

[101] Lewis the Pious ? 

b Whence do you derive the name of Lorraine ? 

[102] By what untoward circumstance were these three kingdoms 
C thrown into confusion 1 Who were the Normans, and in 

what part of France did they carry on their predatory war¬ 
fare ? Did any other pirates visit Italy ? What depreda¬ 
tions did the Normans commit in Germany ? By what 
tribes was the eastern frontier of his kingdom disturbed 
during the reign of Charles the Bald ? 

[103] Among whom did Lothar I. divide his kingdom ? By whom 
a was Lorraine seized after the death of Lothar II. 

[104] Who succeeded Lewis II. as king of Italy and Roman 
emperor ? Among whom was the kingdom of Lewis the Gei’man 
divided ? Which of these became sole occupant of the throne 

B after the death of his brothers ? By whom, and in consequence 
of what events, was the Frankish monarchy reunited ? What 
provinces were excluded from this arrangement ? What cities 
c were destroyed by the Normans ? For what reasons was Charles 
the Bald deposed by his subjects ? Into how many portions was 
the Frankish empire divided after his death ? 

[105] To whom was the Western Frankish empire assigned ? 

[106] Who reigned in Germany ? 

[107] Into how many portions was Germany divided, and by whom 
were they governed ? 

108] Between whom was the sovereignty of Italy disputed ? 

109] To what circumstances do you ascribe the origin and influence 
A of the temporal and ecclesiastical aristocracy under the successors 

of Charlemagne ? By what practices were these usurpations 
facilitated ? What was the policy of the kings during this 
period ? . Mention one instance of their weakness. In what 
c provinces were the suppressed dukedoms restored ? To what 
circumstances do you attribute the increased influence of the 
clergy during this period ? What were the decretals of S. Isidore, 
and what effect was produced by them ? 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


179 


110—115.] 

§ 21. The East Frankish empire under the tico last Carlovingians. 

[110] By whom and in what manner were Italy and Burgundy re- 
a united to the German empire ? By whom were the Normans 

utterly defeated ? To what circumstances do you ascribe their 
B perseverance in acts of piracy after this defeat ? By whom were 
the Moravians expelled from their country ? 

[111] Who were the guardians of Lewis the Child? In what 
c countries, and for what purpose, were national dukedoms esta¬ 
blished ? Where was the ducal dignity re-established ? How 
many national dukes were in Germany at this period ? 

§ 22. Empire of the East Franks under Conrad I. of Franconia. 

[112] By what nations was an attempt made to establish indepen- 
a dent kingdoms after the extinction of the Carlovingin race ? By 

whom was Otho the Illustrious elected emperor, and on what 
grounds did he refuse the crown ? Who was then chosen ? Was 
not the election more unanimous on this than on the former 
b occasion ? What became of Lorraine ? How was Conrad occu¬ 
pied during the whole of his reign ? By what marauders were 
the provinces infested ? What was the conduct of the Duke of 
c Bavaria ? Whom did Conrad recommend as his successor ? 
How many German dukedoms were there at this time ? 

§ 23. The German empire under kings of the house of Saxony. 

[113] By what surname was Henry I. distinguished ? How did he 
carry into effect the plans of his predecessor ? What province 

D did he reunite to the empire ? For how long a period, and on 
what terms, did he conclude an armistice with the Hungarians ? 
How was this time employed ? What forti’esses did he build ? 
a What surname did he obtain from this circumstance ? Against 
what nations was the army exercised in warfare ? What ad¬ 
vantage was obtained by the conquest of the Sclavonians ? How 
many margravates were established for the defence of the 
b frontiers ? Where did Henry engage the Hungarians, and with 
what success ? 

[114] By whom was he succeeded? What remarkable circum¬ 
stance distinguished his election ? Where was the ceremony of 
coronation performed from this time ? With whom was he 

c engaged in disputes during the first years of his reign ? In 
what manner did Otho attempt to diminish the influence of the 
dukes ? How was his own authority strengthened ? On whom, 
and for what service, did he confer his own dukedom of Saxony ? 
d Into how many districts did he divide Lorraine ? By what 
measures was the constitution in church and state materially 
improved ? 

[115] What was the issue of his war with the Danes? What 
a happened to the Duke of Bohemia ? What circumstances occa¬ 
sioned Otho’s first campaign in Italy ? Whom did he marry ? 

B On whom did he bestow the sovereignty of Italy ? Where 
were the Hungarians defeated, and what important event fol¬ 
lowed ? What effect was produced by a victory over the Wend- 

I G 


180 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [116—121 

C isli Sclavonians? What title was revived by Otho I.? How 
long was this title borne by the German kings ? By what mea¬ 
sures did Otho endeavour to improve the condition of his cities ? 

a What advantages did he gain in his third Italian campaign ? To 
whom did he marry his son ? 

[116] What events occurred during the war between Otho II. and 
the King of France ? How was this war terminated ? What 
circumstance furnished Otho with an excuse for entering Lower 

b Italy with an army ? By whom and where was he attacked, 
and with what result ? Where did he die ? 

[117] By whom was he succeeded ? Who were the guardians of 
the young king ? What province was erected into a seventh 
duchy ? By what party was an attempt made to emancipate 
Rome from the German yoke ? What measures were adopted 
by Otho in consequence of this rebellion ? What favorite pro- 

c ject was he unable to carry out ? By what peculiarity was the 
election of his successor distinguished ? 

[118] What surname was given to him ? What conditions were 
required from him, which had never been imposed on any of his 
predecessors! What attempts were made by some of the 

a provinces during his absence in Germany ? How were these 
attempts defeated by Henry ? What circumstance occasioned 
his second visit to Italy ? What event terminated the contests 
between native and German princes for the possession of the 

B Italian crown ? What advantages were gained in a third 
Italian campaign ? To whom was Henry in a great measure 
indebted for his victory ? How were they rewarded ? 

§ 24. The German empire under the Franconian emperors. 

[119] By whose suffrages was Conrad II. elected ? Where was he 
crowned ? What was the first act of his reign ? What country 
was added to the German empire, and under what circumstances ? 
Over what countries was the supremacy of Germany re-esta- 

C blished ? To whom did Conrad cede a portion of his dominions ? 
What was the effect of this cession ? What law was passed by 
Conrad during his second visit to Italy ? By what measure was 
his family influence extended ? 

[120] What was the first act of Henry’s administration ? In what 

a manner did he establish the imperial authority, without the in¬ 
tervention of any secondary power, over the whole of southern 
Germany ? Was the same effect produced in any other coun¬ 
tries 1 What foreign prince was reduced to submission 1 How 
was the feudal sovereignty over Hungary secured ? What king¬ 
doms and dukedoms did the German empire comprise at this 

B time ? What measures were adopted for the better mainten¬ 
ance of peace in Alemannia, Bavaria, and Carinthia ? What was 
the condition of Franconia at this time ? What was the 
“ Treuga Dei ?” 

[121] What was Henry’s next project? What were the two most 
glaring ecclesiastical irregularities at this time ? In what man¬ 
ner did Henry endeavour to re-establish unity in the Church ? 

c How was he rewarded for these services ? What sort of eccle- 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


181 


122 — 126 .] 

siastical laws were enacted ? Who resisted his plans for sub- 
d jecting the Church to the temporal power 1 What benefit did 
Henry confer on the Normans ? By what tenure were they 
afterwards content to hold their possessions ? 

[122] At what age was Henry IV. called to the throne ? Who was 
a his guardian ? By whom was the administration of the kingdom 

usurped ? Who wrested it from his hands ? What sentence 
was passed on Adalbert ? By whose threats was Henry com- 
b pelled to adopt this measure ? What German prince was un¬ 
justly deprived of his dukedom, and on whom was it conferred ? 
What was the conduct of Henry after the death of Adalbert? 
c Against what country did he particularly carry on his opera¬ 
tions ? Whom did he detain a prisoner ? 

[123] What circumstances occasioned the Saxon insurrection? 
d Before what city did the Saxon army first appear ? Whither 

did Henry fly, and how was he received by the citizens ? Where 
a and on what terms was peace concluded ? Who refused to ratify 
this peace ? What was the effect of their refusal ? 

[124] What offices had been held by Hildebrand before his eleva¬ 
tion to the papal throne ? What was his favourite project ? 

b How did he prepare the way for its ultimate success ? What 
c important ally was secui*ed ? What title did Hildebrand assume, 
and for what reason ? What measures did he adopt for securing 
the independence of the clergy ? What is meant by “ investi- 
d ture.” What was the conduct of Henry under these circum- 
a stances ? How did Gregory punish his audacity ? Why did 
Henry cross the Alps, and how was he treated by the Pope on 
his arrival in Italy ? On what conditions did he obtain a re- 
b versal of the sentence of excommunication ? Who had been 
chosen emperor during his absence ? On what terms was the 
new emperor elected ? What was his fate ? Whom did Henry 
C place on the papal throne in the room of Gregory VII.? To 
whom did he leave the prosecution of the war in Germany ? 
From what pope did he receive the imperial crown ? After 
what important victory? What became of Gregory VII.? 
d Where did he die ? Who had been elected emperor during 
Henry’s absence in Italy ? By what nations was he chosen ? 
How long did he reign ? 

[125] By whom, and at whose instigation, was the crown of Italy 
a assumed ? How was he punished for this act of treason ? To 

whom was the succession secured, and on what conditions ? 
b How was this compact violated ? Of what act of violence were 
the conspirators guilty, and what was its effect ? Where did 
Henry IV. die ? Where was his body afterwards buried ? 

[126] What twofold object had Henry V. in view ? How was the 
C first of these objects promoted ? What proposal was made by 

the pope, and how was it received by the German clei’gy ? To 
d what conditions was he compelled to accede ? On what grounds 
was this decree annulled ? How long did the contest last, and 
a how was it terminated ? What were the conditions of this com¬ 
pact ? 


182 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 127 — 135 . 

Changes in the Constitution during the Saxon and Franconian period . 

[127] What practice disappeared with the extinction of the Carlo- 
b vingian line ? Was the hereditary right of succession entirely 

abolished ? When did the election of the successor to the 
throne take place ? At whose election w r as the elective character 
c of the monarchy fully established ? How were the limits of the 
royal authority defined ? 

[128] Whose functions were usurped by the dukes after the death 
d of Charlemagne ? How was their authority crippled ? By whom 

were they nominated ? In whose reign were most of the duke¬ 
doms made hereditary ? 

[129] In whose reign was the number of margraves increased? 
a What powers did they possess ? 

[130] What were the duties of the counts palatine ? Who was the 
most important among them ? 

[131] Were the counties hereditary or elective under the Fran- 
b conian kings ? What was the most important duty of the 

count ? 

§ 25. Italy. 

[132] How long was Italy governed by kings of its own? By 
whom was it reunited to Germany ? What was its condition 

c after the death of Arnulf ? By whom was the country ravaged 
during this period ? 

[133] By whom was a fruitless attempt made to deprive Henry II. 
a of the Italian crown ? What was the condition of Italy under 

the Othos ? What privileges were conferred by them on the 
priesthood ? What measures were adopted by the Emperor 
Conrad for restraining the power of the great feudal lords ? 
What important privilege was at the same time secured to the 
people ? What revolutionary measure was adopted by the 
Lombard cities during the reigns of Henry IV. and Henry V. ? 

[134] By whom were the Venetian Islands originally peopled? 
b How were they governed in the first instance ? To what nations 

were they successively subject ? At what period was the form 
of government changed ? When, and for what cause, was their 
C connexion with the Byzantine empire dissolved ? What island 
became the seat of government and centre of a maritime city ? 
By what conquests did the Venetian republic enlarge its domi¬ 
nions ? To what advantageous circumstances was it indebted 
for its importance ? 

[135] Who laid the foundation of the pope’s temporal power? 
d What provinces were settled on the papal see, and by whom 

was this endowment confirmed ? By what name was this terri¬ 
tory distinguished ? What addition was made to it by Henry 
III. ? What concession was made by the pope in return for 
this benefit ? Through whose liberality was a still more impor¬ 
tant accession of territory obtained ? On what terms were Apulia 
and Calabria held by the Normans ? Of wliat nature was the 
pope’s authority within the walls of Rome, and throughout the 
dukedom in which it was situated ? 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


183 


136 — 150 .] 

[136] What sort of government was established in Lower Italy on 
B the ruins of the Lombard empire ? What was its condition at 

first, and subsequently ? What provinces separated from it, and 
formed independent principalities ? What districts were re¬ 
tained by the Greeks ? By what people were these districts 
perpetually molested ? 

[137] To whom did the whole of Lower Italy become a prey in the 
c fourteenth century ? When did they first visit Italy ? What 

city did they build? What Norman noble was invested by the 
pope with the dignity of duke, and what fiefs were granted to 
d him ? Under what pi'etence did he raise an army ? Where 
did he obtain a victory ? Against what city did he advance ? 
a By what circumstances was he compelled to return ? Where 
did he die ? By what prince were Apulia and Calabria united 
with Sicily ? What name was given to the new kingdom ? 

[138] By whom was Sicily taken from the Byzantines, and to whom 
were the conquerors compelled to surrender it ? 

[139] To whom did Sardinia belong from the year 850 to 1022 ? 

[140] To whom was Corsica at first subject? What two nations 
afterwards contended for the possession of it, and how long did 
the struggle continue ? 

§ 26. France under the last Carlovingians. 

[141] By whom, and under what circumstances, was Otho elected 
king of France ? 

[142] Were the anticipations of the electoi’s realized ? 

[143] Who succeeded Otho? What dignities did he confer on 
Rollo ? What was the effect of this arrangement ? Of what 
province did Charles take possession after the extinction of the 
Cai'lovingian race in Gei'many ? 

[144] By whom, and for what reason, was Robert elected ? What 
was his fate ? 

[ 145] By whom was he succeeded ? What became of Charles ? 
a By whom was Lorraine reunited with Germany ? 

[146] Who succeeded Rudolph ? What surname did he bear ? 

[147] Against whom, and with what results, did his successor cari’y 
b on war ? How long did Lewis V. reign, and by whom was 

he succeeded ? 

[148] Why was his uncle Chaides excluded from the succession ? 
Whence did Hugo derive his surname of Capet ? 

[149] What was the political condition of France at this time? 
What provinces were under the immediate control of the Car¬ 
lovingians ? Name the immediate fiefs of the crown ? What 
was the foundation of the distinction between Northern and 
Southern Finance ? By what peculiarities of character were the 

A inhabitants of these two disti*icts distinguished ? What distinct 
legal codes were established in the North and in the South of 
France ? 

§ 27. France under the four first Capets. 

[150] By whom was the dukedom of Fi’ancia annexed to the 
crown ? What measures did he adopt for conciliating the clergy 


184 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [151 - 159. 

and lay nobles ? After whose death was he generally recognized 
b as king ? What was the extent of his authority ? 

[151] By whom was he succeeded ? What territory was added by 
the new sovereign to the possessions of the crown ? Oil whom 
was it conferred ? Of what royal family was he the ancestor ? 

[152] By what authority was the Treuga Dei established ? 

[153] What remarkable event occurred in England during the 
c reign of Philip I. of France ? 

§ 28. England under the West Saxon kings. 

[154] By whom were the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms united 
under one crown ? What name did he give to the island of 

d Britain ? By what foreign invaders was the kingdom ravaged 
during the reign of Egbert ? 

[155] What was the condition of England at the accession of 
a Alfred the Great ? Where was he compelled to pass a winter ? 

How did he obtain information respecting the Danes? In what 
manner did he avail himself of this knowledge ? What conces¬ 
sions were extorted from the Danish leader ? 

[15G] What measures were adopted by Alfred for the security of 
b his kingdom ? How was the administration of justice facilitated ? 

What plans were adopted for the advancement of learning ? 
c Against what enemies was Alfred now compelled to take the 
field ? By what Anglo-Saxon king was tribute paid to the 
d Danes, and what was the effect of this compromise ? What 
cruel act was perpetrated by Ethelred, and how was it avenged ? 

§ 29. Supremacy of the Danes in England. 

[157] With whom did Canute at fh’st share his throne ? Into how 
a many provinces did he divide England ? What important re¬ 
forms did he effect ? Of what other dominions did he become 

b possessed by negociation or conquest ? Among whom was his 
empire divided after his death ? Who succeeded Harold on the 
English throne ? 

§ 30. jR estoration and extinction of the A nglo-Saxon dynasty. 

[158] By whom was Edward the Confessor governed ? What in- 
c novations excited discontent among the Saxon inhabitants ? 
D By wKom was he succeeded ? What was the fate of Harold II. ? 

What surname was given to William in consequence of this 
victory ? 

§ 31. Scotland. 

[159] By what races was Scotland inhabited? By whom, and 
a under what name, were the two kingdoms united ? What 

enemies were successfully resisted by the Scots ? By what 
English monarch was Cumberland granted to the king of Scot¬ 
land ? On what conditions ? By whom were Scotland and 
Cumberland conquered ? On what terms were they permitted 
to retain their kings ? 


160—167.] 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


185 


§ 32. Ireland. 

[160] Into how many states was Ireland divided at the period of 
ii its conquest by the English ? Name these states. In what 

century, and by whom, were the Irish converted to Christianity? 
c By what unfavorable circumstances, and for how long a period, 
w r as the progress of civilization retarded in Ireland ? 

§ 33. Spain. 

[161] Under what Caliphs, and for how long a period, did the 
d Arabian portion of the Peninsula enjoy uninterrupted pros¬ 
perity ? By what river was Arabian separated from Christian 

a Spain, and what was the amount of its population ? Desci’ibe 
its capital city. What were the chief employments of the 
population ? To what extent were the arts and sciences cul¬ 
tivated ? 

[162] After what event, and under what circumstances, was Arabian 
b Spain annexed to the empire of Morocco ? 

[163] How many Christian kingdoms wei’e there in Spain at the 
conclusion of this pei’iod ? 

[164] To which of these kingdoms did Portugal belong ? In what 
c, d year was it separated ? 

§ 34. The Byzantine empire under the Macedonian emperors. 

[165] What countries did the empire comprehend at the com- 
a mencement of this period ? By whom, and under what title, 
b was the code of Justinian republished ? What countries were 

wrested from the Arabians, and by whom ? By what emperor 
was Bulgaria conquered ? Who were raised to the throne after 
the extinction of the Macedonian male line ? By whom was the 
last of these rulers deposed ? 

[166] What position did the Byzantine empire occupy at this 
c period among the kingdoms of the Christian world ? By what 

name did the Byzantines designate themselves, and what appel- 
d lation did they reject with scorn ? In whom were the legislative 
and executive authorities united ? By whom was the senate 
deprived of its last vestige of power ? 

§ 35. The Arabians under the Abbasides. 

[ 167] To what city was the seat of government transferred soon after 
a the accession of the Abbasides ? By whom was this city built ? 
Of what Christian sovereign was the Caliph Harun al Raschid a 
contemporary and friend ? By which of the Caliphs were the 
b arts and sciences fostered ? Mention the causes which eventually 
produced the dissolution of the Caliphate. How did the first of 
these causes operate in Spain, Africa, and Asia ? By whom, and 
at what period, were most of the Asiatic possessions of the 
C Caliphs united under one crown ? After what event was this 
union dissolved ? What portion of the empire remained in the 
hands of the Caliphs ? What power was exercised by the 
d Turkish body-guard ? What formidable sects existed at this 


186 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 168 — 173 . 

period ? To whom did the Caliphs entrust the affairs of govern¬ 
ment, and what office did they reserve to themselves ? 

§ 36. Scandinavia. 

[168] What was the political condition of Norway until the ninth 
a century ? Who founded the Norwegian kingdom, and what 

islands were added to it by conquest ? What became of the 
chieftains who refused to submit to his authority ? What king- 
b dom did they found ? By whom was Christianity introduced ? 
Who conquered and divided Norway ? 

[169] By whom was its independence re-established ? By how 
c many races was Sweden inhabited ? How were the latter sub¬ 
divided ? Who placed the different tribes under one sovereign ? 
Where did he reside ? By whom, and at what period, were the 
Swedes converted to Christianity ? 

[170] By whom were the Danish islands and Jutland united into 
one kingdom ? From what fabulous hero did he trace his descent ? 

a How long did his male descendants occupy the throne ? What 
countries were conquered by Sweyn ? By whom was he suc¬ 
ceeded in England ? By whom was Schleswig annexed to the 
kingdom of Denmark ? By a convention with what emperor ? 
b What kingdom was again reduced to submission ? In what 
manner did Canute endeavour to promote Christianity ? To 
whom was Denmark subject after his death ? By whom was it 
emancipated ? 

§ 37. Russia. 

[ 171 ] By what tribes were the southern, northern, and central parts 
c of Russia inhabited ? By what chieftain, and at what period, was 
the grand duchy of Russia founded 1 What was its capital ? To 
d what city was the government afterwards transferred ? Under 
what circumstances was Christianity introduced into Russia ? 
What Russian sovereign first embraced Christianity ? What 
district was conquered by this sovereign \ In what manner did 
a he endeavour to civilize liis subjects ? By what title was Kiev 
popularly designated ? 

§ 38. Poland. 

[ 17'2] By what name were the Slaves on the middle Vistula generally 
known ? Whom did they first choose for their duke, and what 
was the date of his election ? How long did his family reign in 
Poland ? Which of their dukes first embraced Christianity ? 
B Whom did he recognize as his feudal sovereign \ By whose 
assistance did his son exterminate the remnants of heathenism ? 
In what cities did he found bishoprics ? Against what nations 
did he carry on wars, and with what success ? What dignity 
did he assume a short time before his death ? Under what cir¬ 
cumstances did Poland again become a dukedom ? 

§ 39. Hungary. 

[173] By what other name were the Hungarians known ? Whence 
c did they come ? Under what leader ? What country did they 


174 - 178 .] OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 187 

enter ? Of what countries did the Hungarians obtain posses- 
d sion ? By whom were they driven back ? In what century was 
Christianity introduced among them ? By what king were 
several bishoprics founded ? By whom, and in what year, was 
a he crowned ? What became of his son ? By whose assistance 
did he recover his throne ? By whom was tranquillity eventually 
restored ? 

§ 40. Religion, arts, sciences, die., during the first period. 

[174] In what light was the increasing influence of the clergy 
b view r ed by the temporal power ? What privileges belonged to 

the pope ? In what cases had he judicial authority over laymen ? 
What territories did he possess ? How were the monks gene- 
C rally employed ? To what causes do you attribute the laxity of 
D monastic discipline at this period 1 By what circumstance was 
a partial reformation effected ? By what rule were the new 
convents governed ? Who endeavoured to introduce this rule 
into the convents of England ? What new orders were founded 
a in the eleventh century ? At what period were cathedral chap¬ 
ters founded ? By whom were they generally established ? 

[175] In what manner was the cultivation of the arts and sciences 
promoted by the Caliphs during this period ? 

[176] What learned establishments existed in the Arabian pro- 
b vinces ? What is the general character of Arabian literature ? 
c In what sciences were the labours of their learned men most 
d successful ? Why was the study of anatomy omitted \ How 
a was this defect in some measure supplied ? What works were 

produced by the Arabian school of architecture, and what were 
its characteristics? Who was the most renowned of the Persian 
b poets ? What was the state of Greek literature at this period ? 

Mention the chief philosophical writers. In what condition 
C were sculpture and painting ? Mention the historical works 
published in the West of Europe. Describe the scholastic phi- 
d losophy taught in the church schools during this period. Name 
the most distinguished professors of philosophy. Where were 
a jurisprudence and mathematics most successfully studied ? At 
what period did the Latin cease to be a living language ? Men- 
B tion the earliest specimens of German literature. What archi¬ 
tectural works were produced during this period ? In what 
condition were painting and music ? In what countries did 
trade and manufacturing industry principally flourish ? 

[177] To what ports was the commerce of Byzantium gradually 
c, D transferred ? What German city was the emporium of the 

trade between the East and West, and between the North and 
South ? To what ports did the cities of the North and South of 
France trade ? By what circumstances was manufacturing in¬ 
dustry chiefly promoted ? 

§ 41. The First Crusade. 

[178] What practice had existed for many years among the Chris- 
a tians of the Roman empire ? By whom were the pilgrims per- 
b secuted, and what was the effect of this intolerant measure ? 


188 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 179 — 185 . 

By whom were the complaints of the eastern Christians seconded ? 
c What was the immediate effect of his preaching? Describe the 
commencement of the Crusade. What was the fate of the first 
a detachment of crusaders? By whom was an expedition on a 
larger scale undertaken ? Who was the commander-in-chief, 
and what was the amount of the force under his command? 
b What Asiatic cities first fell into the hands of the crusaders ? 
What extraordinary circumstances attended the siege of Antio- 
chia? On what general was the principality of that district 
c conferred ? By whom was another principality established ? 

Describe the capture of Jerusalem. What dignity was offered 
d to Godfrey de Bouillon? By whom, and under what circum¬ 
stances, was the Caliph of Egypt defeated? By whom was 
Godfrey succeeded ? 

[179] What cities were added to the kingdom of Jerusalem by the 
a new sovereign ? Into how many districts was the kingdom now’ 

divided ? 

The Second Crusade. 

[180] What circumstance occasioned the second Crusade? By 
b w'hat sovereigns was it undertaken, and at whose instance? 
c What fate befell the German division of the army? What was 

the result of this expedition ? 

The Third Crusade. 

[181] By what monarch w r ere the claims of Egypt to Syria and 
d Palestine revived ? What was the result of his operations ? 

[182] What circumstance occasioned the third Crusade? By what 
a sovereigns was it undertaken? How did Frederick I. lose his 

life? 

[183] What order of knighthood was instituted by his son? On 
b what occasion was the banner of Austria insulted, and by whom? 
c On what terms was a truce concluded with Saladin ? What be¬ 
came of the island of Cyprus ? What happened to Richard on 
his return from Palestine ? 

The (so-named) Fourth Crusade. 

[184] By what sovereign were fresh bands of crusaders sent out? 
d Of what cities did they regain possession ? By what nations was 

the fourth Crusade undertaken ? Did they reach Jerusalem ? 
a What empire did they found? Who was elected emperor, and 
what territories were assigned to him ? What portions were 
assigned severally to the Venetians, French, and Lombards? 
What noble obtained the largest share, and what kingdom did 
B he found ? By whom was a Greek empire established at Nicsea? 
Was any other independent empire founded in Asia ? By whom 
was the Latin empire destroyed ? 

The Crusade of Frederick II. 

[185] What unsuccessful attempts to regain Palestine had been 
c made previously to the Crusade of Frederick II.? What occur- 
d rence induced the pope to urge on Frederick the necessity of 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


189 


186 — 191 .] 

fulfilling the promise made at his coronation ? What circum¬ 
stance compelled him to defer the expedition, and in what 
a light was his conduct viewed by the pope ? Did he re-visit 
Palestine ? 

The Sixth Crusade. 

[186] What causes occasioned the sixth Crusade? By what sove- 
b reign was it undertaken? Where did he first land, and what 
c success attended his operations in that country? What check 

did he receive, and on what conditions was he released from 
captivity ? How was he employed after His liberation? 

The Seventh Crusade. 

[187] By whom, and under what circumstances, was the seventh 
d Crusade undertaken? What was his fate? In what year did 

the last of the Christian possessions in Palestine fall into 
the hands of the Mamelukes? What was the name of this 
fortress ? 

Results of the Crusades. 

[188] In what manner was the hierarchy affected by the Crusades? 
a Mention another circumstance by which the authority of the 

pope over the clergy was augmented. By what circumstances 
was the wealth of the clergy increased ? Mention an important 
result of the wars against the infidels as regards the extension 

[189] of Christian influence. 

b How was the position of the European sovereigns affected by 
the Crusades? 

[190] What were the consequences of the Crusades to the nobility? 
c Describe the development of the knightly power. In what 

manner were the distinctive forms of nobility created ? Mention 
i) the degrees of chivalry. Describe the institution of the order of 
Knights Hospitallers. Were they known by any other name? 
Into how many classes were they divided, and what were the 
duties of each class? Into what sections was the order again 
a subdivided? In what countries did the Knights Hospitallers 
establish themselves after the loss of Palestine? By whom were 
b they deprived of the last of their settlements ? Describe the origin 
of the order of Knights Templars. Whence did they derive 
their name ? In what country did they seek an asylum after the 
c loss of the Holy Land, and what was their fate? At what period 
was the Teutonic order founded, and by whom ? For what 
benevolent purpose was it established ? Of what country were 
all the knights natives? What was the title of their president? 
By whom was the residence of the order removed from Jerusa¬ 
lem, and to what place was it transferred ? What country was 
' conquered by the knights, and in wliat city did they establish 
d their residence after that conquest? What effect had the 
establishment of these orders on European society? What 
service did they render in Palestine ? 

[191] What effect had the Crusades on the Burgher order? To 
what circumstances do you ascribe the growth and prosperity 


190 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [192 200 . 

a of their cities? How was the peasant order affected by the 
Crusades ? 

Consequences to Trade and Manufactures. 

[192] By what nations were important commercial privileges ac- 
b quired during the period of the Crusades? In what countries 

did the Venetians establish colonies during the fourth Crusade? 
c At what period, and by whom, were they expelled from Constan¬ 
tinople ? What circumstances l'endered this disaster compara¬ 
tively unimportant ? 

[193] To what route had the overland trade been confined in former 
d days, and into what other channels was it directed during the 

period of the Crusades ? 

[194] When was this commercial intercourse fully developed? 
a What manufactures were introduced into Europe, and to what 

countries was European produce exported during this period ? 
What was the result of this manufacturing prosperity? 

[195] By what circumstances was the mass of geographical inform- 
b ation augmented ? To what traveller was Europe indebted for 

information on this subject? 

§ 42. The German Empire under Lothar [Lothaire] the Saxon. 

[196] Who were nominated as his successors by Henry V., .and on 
c whom did the choice of the electors fall? What concessions did 

he make to the pope ? On whom did Lothar bestow the hand 
of his daughter and the dukedom of Saxony ? What service did 
d his son-in-law render to Lothar? How often did Lothar visit 
Rome, and what was his object on each of these occasions? 

§ 43. The German Empire under the Hohenstaufen. 

[198] Who ascended the German tlmone after Lothar’s death? 
a What became of Henry the Proud ? On whom was his dukedom 

of Bavaria conferred ? By whom was the war carried on after 
b Henry’s death ? What remarkable circumstance attended the 
capture of Weinsberg? What name was given to the hill in 
commemoration of this event? To whom was the dukedom of 
Saxony restored ? In what respect was Conrad inferior in dig¬ 
nity to his predecessors? Had this happened on any previous 
occasion ? 

[199] By whom was Conrad succeeded ? In what manner was he 
c connected with each of the rival houses ? How did he endeavour 

to effect a reconciliation between the two factions ? On whom 
was Bavaria bestowed, and how was the Margrave of Austria 
indemnified for the loss ? What was the great object of the 
new emperor’s policy ? How many times did he visit Italy ? 

[200] What cities were taken in his first campaign ? For what 
a, b purpose was he summoned to Rome, and what measures did he 

adopt on entering that city ? What homage did Frederick 
render to the pope ? What calamity compelled him to return 
to Germany ? By what marriage did he reunite the kingdoms 
of Germany and Burgundy ? What duke was elevated to the 
rank of king ? 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


191 


201 — 211 .] 

[201] To what city did Frederick lay siege in his second Italian 
c campaign ? What were the principal conditions of the capitula¬ 
tion signed by the inhabitants % At what diet were the relations 

d of Italy to the emperor settled ? What attempt on the part of 
the Milanese occasioned a fresh war ? What was the fate of 
a Milan ? Which of the two popes elected by the college of car¬ 
dinals was supported by Frederick 1 

[202] What occurred during Frederick’s third visit to Italy ? 

[203] What pope was placed on the papal throne in Frederick’s 
B fourth Italian campaign ? What disaster compelled him to re¬ 
cross the Alps ? What circumstance occasioned the revolt of 
the Lombard cities, and what were the results of that move¬ 
ment ? 

[204] By whom was Frederick abandoned in his fifth campaign ? 
c What were the consequences of this defection ? At what place 

was a formal peace concluded with the Lombards ? What were 
the conditions of this new treaty ? 

[205] What measures were adopted by Frederick on his return to 
r>, a Germany ? What became of Henry the Lion ? In what court 

did he seek an asylum i On whom were Bavaria and Saxony 
bestowed ? What occurred at the diet of Mainz. 

[206] How was Frederick received by the Italians on his sixth 
visit to Italy ? To whom did he marry his eldest son Henry ? 
Where was the marriage celebrated % 

[207] What office had Henry filled during the absence of his father 
b in Palestine \ What was the result of his visit to Naples ? 

Who was placed on the Sicilian throne ? Where did Henry 
c receive the imperial crown \ Whence did he derive funds for a 
second campaign in Italy ? What was the result of that cam- 
d paign ? What acts of cruelty were perpetrated by Henry, and 
how was he punished by the pope ? What cherished plan of 
Henry’s was rendered abortive, and by what circumstance ? 
a Where did he die, and what feelings were excited by his death ? 

[208] What was the fate of Henry the Lion ? 

[209] What two princes were elected to fill the vacant throne ? 
b By what party was each of them supported ? To whose arbi¬ 
tration was the disputed election referred, and how did he de¬ 
cide \ What was the fate of Philip 1 

[210] What was the first act of Otho’s reign ? By what means did 
c he effect a reconciliation with the house of Hohenstaufen ? 
d What insult did he offer to the pope, and how was it avenged ? 
a Where did Otho die, and under what circumstances '{ 

[211] What promises were made to the pope by Frederick II. on 
b his accession ? Were these engagements fulfilled ? In what 

condition did Frederick find Apulia on his return from Palestine ? 
Through whose intervention did he effect a reconciliation with 
the pope ? What important reform was effected in Apulia ? 
c What was the fate of Frederick’s son Henry ? On whom, and 
subject to what conditions, was the duchy of Brunswick Liine- 
burg conferred ? For what purpose, and with what result, did 
Frederick visit Italy ? Who acted as regent during his absence ? 
d What circumstance retarded the surrender of Milan ? 


192 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [ 212 — 221 . 

[212] What success attended the endeavours of the pope to place a 
rival sovereign on the German throne ? By what tribes was 
the North-East of Europe overrun at this time ? How far did 
they penetrate, and where did they engage the Germans ? 

[213] By whom was Gregory IX. succeeded, and what was the 
b policy of the new pontiff ? Who was elected in opposition to 

Frederick, and by what nick-name was he distinguished ? How 
c long did he survive his election ? Who was then chosen, and 
by what electors ? Who was left to oppose the usurper in 
Germany ? By what generals was Frederick assisted in the 
Lombard war ? Where did Frederick die ? 

[214] What circumstance induced Conrad to quit Germany? 
d, a What issue did he leave ? By what public acts was the reign 

of William of Holland distinguished ? What was his fate ? 

§ 44. The Interregnum in Germany. 

{215] On whom did the choice of the electors fall after William’s 
B death ? What was the condition of the empire at this period ? 
Which of the rival sovereigns was afterwards set aside by the 
electors, and on whom did their choice then fall ? 

§ 45. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 

[216] By whom was the kingdom of the Two Sicilies founded ? 
c Who were his immediate successors ? By whom, and for how 

long, was the Sicilian throne usurped ? 

[217] What reforms were effected by Frederick I. (Hohenstaufen) ? 
a Who was Manfred, and what u-as his fate ? Who was Conradin ? 

[218] By whom was he assisted, what battle did he fight, and what 
b was his fate ? To whom did he bequeath his claims ? Who 

wore the Sicilian crown at this time ? How was the murder of 
Conradin avenged ? What division of the Sicilian empire now 
took place ? 

§ 46. France. 

[219] By what surname was Louis VI. distinguished ? By what 
c measures was the sovereign authority consolidated during his 

reign ? By whom, and subject to what conditions, was Normandy 
held at this time ? Were any attempts made to alter this 
arrangement ? 

[220] By whom was Louis VII. persuaded to take part in the 
d second Crusade ? Who administered the affairs of his kingdom 
a during his absence ? What portion of France was annexed to 

England during this reign, and under what cii’cumstances ? 

[221] With whom did Philip II. quarrel, and what attempt did lie 
make in consequence of this dispute? What punishment was 
inflicted on John, king of England, and for what crime ? What 
advantage did the king of France gain by this arrangement? 

b By whom, and under what circumstances, was the crown of 
England offered to Philip? On what terms was an arrangement 
subsequently effected ? What advantage was gained by Philip, 
c and what use did he make of it? What religious war raged 
d during the progress of these events? What steps were taken 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


193 


222 — 232 .] 

a by the pope to check the progress of heresy ? What changes 
took place at this time in the political and ecclesiastical con¬ 
dition of France ? 

[222] By whom was a fresh crusade against the Albigenses under¬ 
taken ? 

[223] By what surname is Louis IX. known in history? Under 
b whose guardianship did he commence his reign ? What became 

of the Albigenses ? On what terms was peace established with 
c England ? What measures were adopted for the preservation of 
peace at home ? 

§ 47. England . 

[224, a] Trace the pedigree of Henry II. and Stephen. 

[225] What changes were made by William the Conqueror in the 
b constitution of England ? What measures did he adopt for the 

security of his throne ? Under what title does the register of 
the lands of England still exist ? 

[226] By whom was William I. succeeded, and whom did he ex- 
c elude from the succession ? 

[227] How did Henry I. obtain the crown ? Did he commit any 
other act of usurpation ? What cruel punishment was inflicted 

D on Robert ? To what public bodies were privileges granted by 
Henry? Who was recognised as his successor by the nobles? 
What change did this recognition effect in the constitution of 
England ? 

[228] By whom was the succession disputed? What was the 
a result of this opposition ? 

[229] What dominions were inherited by Henry II. from his father 
and mother ? Did he not also hold certain provinces in right 
of his wife ? By whom were the attempts of Henry to restrict 

B the privileges of the clergy successfully resisted ? What was 
his fate, and how was Henry punished for his participation in 
this bloody act ? To what unhappy circumstance do you attri¬ 
bute the death of Henry? 

[230] What prerogative of the English crown was alienated by 
c Richard I.? How long did he remain in Palestine, and what 

befell him on his journey homewards ? 

[231] Why was John deprived of his French fiefs ? By what pope, 
n and for what offence, was he excommunicated ? On what terms 
a was a reconciliation with the pope effected ? What important 

public instrument did he endeavour to set aside, and with what 
success ? By what disease was his death occasioned ? 

[232] How old was Henry III. when he ascended the throne ? 
Was there not a rival candidate ? By whom was he compelled 
to renounce his claims ? How was the incapacity of Henry 

B manifested ? What was the result of the discontent occasioned 
by his misgovernment ? By whom was this insurrection headed ? 
c What measures was the king compelled to adopt ? What occa¬ 
sioned the battle of Lewes ? On what conditions was the king 
liberated? Was any other member of the royal family taken 
prisoner ? What important change was effected in the consti¬ 
tution during this reign ? By whom was this measure intro- 

K 


194 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [ 233 — 237 * 

d duced ? Who commanded the royalists at the battle of Evesham ? 
In what year was that battle fought, and with what results ? 
What person of note was slain ? 

§ 48. Spain. 

[233] With what empire did the Arabian kingdom in Spain con- 
a tinue in close connexion until the end of this period ? From 

what event do you date the gradual decline of Moorish power 
both in Africa and the peninsula? To what circumstances 
do you ascribe the gradual preponderance of Christianity over 
Islamism in Spain ? 

[234] By whom, and into how many sovereignties, was the kingdom 
b of Leon and Castille divided ? By whom were they reunited ? 

What provinces were added to them ? By whom was the con¬ 
quest of these provinces principally achieved ? What Spanish 
c sovereign was elected King of Germany? When did Navarre 
cease to be an independent kingdom ? What provinces were 
added to the kingdom of Arragon ? By whom, and under what 
n circumstances, were these provinces annexed ? What Spanish 
monarch became King of Sicily ? By whom had he been nomi¬ 
nated heir to the Neapolitan crown ? What event placed him 
on the throne ? 

§ 49. Portugal. 

[235] Whence does Portugal derive its name? To whom was a 
grant of territory first made in that country ? What were its 

a boundaries ? What was its capital ? Who first assumed the 
title of King of Portugal ? By what fortunate events was he 
enabled to extend the boundaries of his infant kingdom ? How 
did he obtain the recognition of his title by the pope ? From 
what public body did he procure a constitution for his new 
kingdom ? What city did he wrest from the infidels ? By whom 
was he aided in this exploit ? How did he further enlarge his 
kingdom ? 

§ 50. The Byzantine empire. 

[236] By whom was Isaac Comnenus placed on the imperial 
b throne ? Did he retain the crown long ? Whither did he 

retire ? Who was then invested with the purple ? To whom 
did he bequeath the imperial dignity, and on what conditions ? 
c What was the conduct of the empress ? By whom was her 
husband defeated and imprisoned ? In what state did he find 
the capital on his return ? What dreadful punishment was 
n inflicted on him ? In what condition was the empire when the 
Comneni again ascended the throne ? By what emperors of 
that race were the encroachments of the enemies of the empire 
successfully resisted ? From what quarters, and by whom, were 
a these attacks made ? To what circumstances do you attribute 
the feebleness of the empire at this time ? What was the fate 
of Alexius II.? How long did the last of the Comneni reign, 
and by whom was he superseded ? 

[237] Who was the first emperor of the house of Angelus, and by 


OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 


195 


238 — 244 .] 

whom was lie set aside ? For what reason ? What cruelties 
were inflicted on him ? By whom, and for what purpose, was the 
fourth (so-called) Crusade undertaken ? 

[238] Give some account of the Latin empire, and those of Nictea 
and yCrebizond. 

§ 51. The Abbasides. 

[239] By what people and in what year was the caliphate of the 
c Abbasides extinguished ? W hat city was taken by the invaders ? 

What cruel punishment was inflicted on the last of the caliphs ? 
What member of the royal family escaped the general destruc¬ 
tion ? In what country and during what period did the de¬ 
scendants of this prince continue to exercise authority? What 
n was the nature of their supremacy? What African dynasties 
became extinct during this and the preceding period ? By what 
dynasties was the whole of Arabian Africa now shared ? 

§ 52. The Seldschuks. 

[240] Who were the Seldschuks ? What countries did they subdue, 
a and under what commander ? Where did they establish their 

head-quarters ? Of what other countries did they make themselves 
13 masters ? Into how many governments was this empire divided 
after the death of Malek ? What was the extent of their empire 
in its most prosperous days ? Into whose hands did these small 
governments fall during the Crusades ? Which of them con¬ 
tinued to exist, in what condition, and how long ? 

§ 53. The Mongols. 

[241] Who were the Mongols, and what countries did they inhabit ? 
c Who was the most renowned of their chieftains ? What title 

did they confer on him ? What countries did he conquer ? 
d What Russian prince was overthrown by him ? What coun¬ 
tries were overrun by the sons of Dschingis-Khan ? What 
bloody victory did they gain ? Where were they defeated, and 
what measures did they adopt in consequence of this check ? 
Was this operation rendered necessary by any other circum- 
a stance ? What dynasty did they extinguish, and in what year ? 
In what century had their empire reached its widest limits ? 
Describe its boundaries. Where did the great khan reside ? 
To whom was the administration of the provinces committed ? 

§ 54. Scandinavia. 

[242] How long did Iceland remain independent, and by whom was 
b it at last subjugated ? By what peculiarity were its manners, 

language, and literature distinguished ? Is there any exception 
to this general remark ? 

[243] Who was the last of the legitimate descendants of Harold 
Harfagr ? and what was the condition of Norway after his death ? 
What islands were annexed to the Norwegian crown ? Was any 
portion of their empire alienated, and to whom ? 

[244] By what circumstances were the disturbances in Sweden 

K 2 


196 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [245 - 249 . 

c during this period chiefly occasioned ? What was the frequent 
result of these disputes ? 

[245] What countries were comprehended under the name of Den- 
n mark ? What additions were made to the Danish empire by 
a conquest ? To whom, and under what circumstances, was the 

greater part of this conquered territory afterwards suri-endered ? 
To what circumstance do you ascribe the cessation of intercourse 
between Denmark and England ? With what country was an 
intimate connexion formed, and what were its results ? 

§ 55. Russia. 

[246] Which were the two great principalities of Russia ? How 
n many infei'ior principalities were there ? By what people was 

the whole of Russia occupied in 1238 ? What cities did they 
destroy ? Which of the Russian states retained its independ¬ 
ence ? What important position did it occupy in 1267? On 
what conditions were the grand principalities permitted to 
c remain ? What country was conquered during this period of 
dependence, and by whom ? What brilliant victoi’y was gained 
by his son, and what surname was given to him in consequence 
of this success ? 

§ 56. Poland under the Piasts. 

[247] To what favourable circumstance do you attribute the rapid 
improvement of Poland during this period ? What countries 
did she now comprehend ? What was the capital of Eastern 
Pomerania? Were there any obstacles to her advancement? 
Into how many new sovereignties was the dukedom divided after 

i) the death of Boleslav III.? Name them. What privilege was 
a enjoyed by the eldest son ? By whom were the knights of the 
Teutonic order called in, and how were they rewarded ? What 
were the results of the invasion of Poland and Silesia by the 
Mongols ? 

§ 57. Prussia. 

[248] Who were the Prussians, and what country did they inhabit ? 
n What measures did they compel Conrad, duke of Masovia, to 

adopt ? How long did this struggle continue ? By whom were 
the Teutonic knights supported ? What cities did they found 
in Prussia ? By whom was the government of the conquered 
territory administered ? Where was the order finally esta¬ 
blished, and in what year ? 

§ 58. Hungary under the Arpads. 

[249] By how many kings of the Arpadic family was Ladislav the 
c Saint succeeded ? In what year did this family become ex¬ 
tinct ? With what nations were the Hungarians engaged in war 

d during this period ? By what monarch was a charter granted to 
the Hungarians ? What terrible calamity was experienced by 
the nation ? Who was King of Hungary at that time, and how 
did he behave? 


250 — 252 .] 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


197 


/ 


§ 50. Religion , Arts , Manufactures, $c. during the Third Period. 

[250] What attempts were made by Gregory VII., and by whom 
a were they followed up ? What effects were produced by their 
B exertions, towards the end of this period ? By what arrange¬ 
ments was the ecclesiastical authority of the popes strengthened? 

c Name the religious ordei’S of chivalry established in Palestine, 
Spain, and Livonia ? What fresh orders were created from time 
d to time ? What was the result of attempts to reunite the 
Greek and Latin Churches ? AVhat religious communities were 
partially reconciled to the Church of Rome ? By whose teach¬ 
ing in the twelfth century was a variety of sects produced ? 
a Name these sects. What measures were adopted for their 
suppression ? 

[251] Mention the distinguishing political characteristic of this and 
b the following period. What results were pi’oduced by this 
c spirit ? In what practice do we find the germ of chivalry ? To 
d whom is it indebted for its development ? Describe the degrees 

of chivalry. What were its chief duties ? How was the knight 
a rewarded for the faithful discharge of these duties ? What was 
the origin of tournaments ? At what period did those exercises 
begin to assume a systematic character ? In what part of the 
empire was the establishment of a free Burgher order most 
B general ? To what circumstance do you attribute this ? Where 
did Frederick I. hold a diet during his second Italian campaign? 
What was the result ? Who were appointed to execute the 
emperor’s decrees ? By whom, and for what reason, were 
those officers superseded ? In whose hands had the government 
hitherto been ? By whom were the Patricians compelled to 
receive a more democratic constitution ? What name was given 
to the chief popular magistrate ? Of whom was he.the constant 
c opponent ? What measure was adopted, whenever it was neces¬ 
sary that the contending parties should act in concert? By 
what name did they designate the supreme political authority ? 
What do you understand by the term “ Condottiere ? ” What 
code and system of taxation was adopted by these cities ? In 
what reign, and by what means, did the German cities acquire 
similar privileges ? Mention some of the most important of 
d these privileges. To what officer was the conservation of them 
entrusted ? By whom was he assisted ? What violent change 
was effected in the fourteenth century ? By whom were politi¬ 
cal privileges granted to the French cities ? By what motives 
a were they induced to make these concessions ? How was the 
executive authority divided in Arragon ? At what period and 
after what model were cities founded in the north and east of 
Europe ? What advantage was obtained by existing commu¬ 
nities ? Was the attempt to emancipate the cities from the 
authority of their feudal sovereign generally successful ? In 
b what country especially was this authority maintained ? In 
what country did delegates from the cities first appear at diets ? 
Was this practice imitated in other countries ? 

[252] From what materials were the written codes of this period 

K 3 


198 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 253 — 256 . 

generally compiled ? Mention some of them which were the 
c work of private individuals. Give examples of charters granted 
by kings to their subjects. What changes took place in the 
administration of justice towards the conclusion of this period ? 

[253] By whom had the sciences hitherto been exclusively cul¬ 
tivated ? Under whose auspices was education more generally 

d diffused ? How was this object mainly promoted ? To what 
circumstance do the most ancient of these foundations owe their 
origin? Where were the most celebrated theological, philosophical, 
and legal schools established ? Who were the most renowned 
lecturers at these schools ? In what countries, and after what 
a model, were other universities founded ? Name some of the most 
remarkable. By whom was the scholastic mode of treating 
theological subjects introduced ? By what writer were the dog¬ 
mas of Abelard condemned as heretical ? In what estimation 
were the writings of Peter Lombard held by the Church ? What 
discovery was made in the thirteenth century, and what was its 
b effect on the scholastic literature of that period ? Who were the 
most distinguished professors of philosophical scholastics ? What 
studies were considered next in importance to theology and 
philosophy ? In what language was history written in central 
and western Europe ? By whom was the first historical work in 
the vernacular language published ? From what sources was 
mathematical science derived ? Who was the most celebrated 
student in this department? Was he famous for proficiency in 
any other science ? To what circumstance do you ascribe the 
perfection to which mechanics were brought ? What important 
c discovery was made during this period ? To what subjects was 
Byzantine literature confined ? Name some of the most distin ¬ 
guished Byzantine and Ai'abian writers. 

[254] What was the character of the poetry of this period ? Under 
d what dynasty did epic and lyric poetry attain their highest 

degree of excellence in Germany ? How many sorts of epic 
a poetry were there ? Name some of the most distinguished 
professors of lyric poetry. What specimen do we possess of 
the poetical contests of those days ? What sort of poetry was 
cultivated in the south of France ? What name was given to its 
professors, and at what courts did they recite their compositions ? 
Name the different sorts of poetry cultivated at different periods 
in the north of France. By whom was it professed ? Into 
what countries did the minstrelsy of the Troubadours travel ? 
b Mention the most fruitful subject for romance in the history of 
Castille. Where was Scandinavian poetry most successfully 
cultivated ? What was the Edda ? 

[255] From what country was the German or new Gothic style of 
architecture imported ? By whom was it introduced ? What 
were its characteristics ? At what period did it attain its highest 

C perfection ? Mention some of the most magnificent specimens of 
Gothic architecture commenced in this century. Were secular 
buildings erected on a similar scale of grandeur ? 

[256] Mention some of the other arts which were more especially 
d cultivated during this period. To what do you attribute this 


OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 


199 


257 — 261 .] 

preference ? In which century was painting on glass invented ? 
When and by whom were sculpture and painting elevated to the 
rank of independent arts ? In what century were companies or 
unions of painters formed ? 

[257] By what countries was the Mediterranean trade chiefly 
a carried on ? With what eastern seaports ? In what towns 
b did the commerce of the north of Europe principally flourish ? 
c What were the chief stations of the inland trade ? Between 

what German and Italian cities was a commercial league formed, 
and what was the natural result of this policy ? In what re¬ 
spects did the spirit of the age manifest itself among merchants ? 
Where was this especially the case? For what purpose were 
Hansas established ? What privileges did they enjoy in foreign 
d countries ? What was the object of provincial unions ? What 
great commercial union was formed out of these two elements 1 
Of what nature were the enactments respecting maritime enter- 
a prise and commerce during this period? Were any branches 
of commercial adventure forbidden by the Church ? With what 
success ? 

[258] What circumstances were favorable to agriculture during 
this period ? In what part of Europe was the cultivation of 
the vine most successful ? Where were mining operations 

B carried on most vigorously ? By what circumstance was the 
importance of manual crafts greatly augmented ? What was 
their mode of carrying on business ? Mention the principal 
sorts of manufacture, and state in what countries they were 
carried on most successfully. Where were the best articles of 
c hardware produced ? By what city was the trade in glass 
monopolized ? Mention the circumstances which contributed to 
the advancement of commercial prosperity during this period. 

§ 60. Germany and Switzerland. 

[259] Name the seven electorates, distinguishing between the 
d spiritual and temporal. Mention the duchies (with their capi- 
a tals) in the west, south, and north. Enumerate the Principali- 
b ties, Margravates, Landgravates, Burgravates, Counties, Arch- 
c bishoprics, and Bishoprics. How many imperial cities were 

there ? Mention the most considerable. Between what sove¬ 
reigns was the kingdom of Burgundy divided after its dis¬ 
memberment ? 

[260] In what century was the right of election transferred from 
d the dukes to the great officers of the imperial household ? Name 
a these officers. Who was elected King of Germany after the 

death of Richard of Cornwall ? By whom was he proposed ? 
Who refused to recognize Rudolf? For what reason? How 
B was he punished for his contumacy ? What was his fate ? On 
whom did Rudolf confer his forfeited principalities ? What 
seems to have been from this period the grand object of the 
German kings ? 

[261] Through whose influence was Adolphus of Nassau placed on 
the throne ? By what measures did he strengthen the influence 

C of his family ? How did these proceedings ultimately occasion 

K 4 


200 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 262 — 266 . 


the removal of Adolphus from the German throne ? Who was 
elected in his place ? What was the fate of Adolphus ? 

[262] What success attended the plans of Albert I. for the aggran¬ 
dizement of his house ? What claims did he revive, and with 

i) what success ? What circumstance afforded him an opportunity 
of placing liis son on the throne of Bohemia ? How was this 
a connexion dissolved ? What attempt of Albert was resisted by 
the three forest cantons of Switzerland ? By whom were the 
Swiss oppressed ? Who laid the foundation of the Swiss con- 
b federacy ? . What happened to the two governors? What was 
the fate of Albert I.? 

[263] By whom was he succeeded ? On whose motion was the new 
sovereign elected ? What success attended the attempts of 
Henry to extend the influence of his family? To what circum¬ 
stance was he chiefly indebted for this good fortune ? What did 

C he restore ? How was he enabled to effect this ? What project 
was interrupted by his death ? 

[264] By whom was he succeeded ? By what parties were the new 
d kings respectively elected ? With what nation did the house of 

Habsburg engage in war ? What were the results of the battles 
of Morgarten and Miihldorf? What arrangement was made 
a between the two kings ? By what pope, and for what offence, 
was Lewis excommunicated ? To whom was the German crown 
offered ? What respect was paid by Lewis to this sentence ? 
What dignity did he assume at Milan ? By whom was he 
crowned at Rome ? Whom did he place on the papal throne ? 
Why did he return to Germany ? Where was the first electoral 
diet held ? What important resolution was passed at it ? Which 
b of the electors was absent ? How did Lewis increase the posses- 
c sions of his family ? Which of these measures disgusted the 
German nobles ? What was the effect of this distaste ? On 
whom did the choice of the electors fall ? Who was elected 
after the death of Lewis ? By what party ? How was the 
contest terminated ? 

[265] From whose hands, and through whom, did Charles IV. 
d receive the imperial crown ? To what subjects did he devote 
a his chief attention ? What measures did he adopt for the pro¬ 
motion of this object ? What were the provisions of this instru¬ 
ment ? What mode of proceeding did it prescribe on the death 
of an emperor ? Where was the coronation to take place ? 

b What rank was assigned to the electors ? What plans of family- 
aggrandizement were pursued by Charles ? What provinces 
were annexed to his hereditary dominions ? Where was the 
first German university founded ? What other plans of im- 
c provement were adopted ? How did he obtain the funds neces¬ 
sary for his operations ? Mention some of the most important 
privileges granted to the imperial cities. What additions were 
D made to the aristocratic order ? Enumerate the confederacies of 
towns and those of the nobility. 

[266] By whom was Charles succeeded ? What sovereignties did 
a he retain ? What addition was made to his dominions ? What 

union was formed in Swabia? Under whose auspices? What 


OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 


201 


267 — 270 .] 

measure was adopted by Wenceslaus in consequence of this 
proceeding ? By what circumstances was the dissolution of the 
b confederacies of cities occasioned ? Between what parties, and 
with what result, was the battle of Sempach fought ? To whom • 
c were the conquerors chiefly indebted for their victory ? What 
was the effect of a second victory? In what light was Wences¬ 
laus regarded by his subjects ? Where did he usually reside ? 
What measures were adopted in consequence of his incapacity ? 

[267] How did Rupert forfeit the confidence of the nation ? What 
d measures did he adopt on his return to Germany? Who were 

elected after his death ? How many kings had Germany at this 
time ? , 

[268] What was the great object of Sigismund’s reign ? What 
practice had been adopted for many years by the Roman and 

b French colleges of cardinals ? Where was a council held, and 
with what results ? How many rival claimants to the popedom 
were there at this time ? What measure was adopted for the 
removal of these irregularities ? Where was the council assem¬ 
bled, and in what year ? What were its three principal objects ? 
c How was the first of these objects attained ? Who were the 
Bohemian reformers, and where had they learnt their doctrine ? 
n To what circumstance do you ascribe the ready reception of 
a these doctrines by the Bohemian theologians ? What was the 
fate of the two reformers ? To what circumstance do you attri- 
b bute the miscarriage of the third plan ? Who was chosen as 
their leader by the disciples of Huss ? What demand was made 
by them, and how did they act when it was refused ? What 
name did they give to their camp ? Who commanded them ? 
c What act of violence did they commit ? Who succeeded Wen¬ 
ceslaus in his hereditary dominions ? How was he received by 
the Hussites ? What was the cause of this opposition ? Into 
D how many parties were they divided after Huss’s death ? What 
a permission did they extort from the council of Basle ? To 
whom did Sigismund sell the electorate of Brandenburg ? 

[269] Who succeeded Sigismund on the German throne ? What 
question did he revive ? 

[270] By whom was this question again brought forward ? Of 
b whom did he undertake the guardianship ? How was such a 

measure rendered impracticable ? What other plan failed from 
the same cause ? What was the condition of Germany at this 
time ? With what Swiss canton did Frederick form an alli¬ 
ance ? By what foreign troops was he supported ? What was 
c the result of his Swiss campaign ? What measures were adopted 
by Pope Eugenius IV. with reference to the council of Basle ? 
By whom was he succeeded ? Through whose intervention was 
a concordat concluded between the emperor and the pope ? 
What effect had this proceeding on the council and the rival 
D pope ? What success attended the proclamation of a crusade 
against the Turks ? What reasons were assigned for this pro- 
a clamation ? Who was the last emperor crowned at Rome ? 

How did Frederick increase his hereditary possessions ? What 
b opposition did he encounter in Bohemia and Hungary ? By 


202 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 271 — 277 . 


wliat alliance did Frederick acquire the Netherlands and 
Germany ? Against what country did Maximilian successfully 
maintain possession of these territories ? 

§ 61. The States of Italy. 

[271] By what circumstances had Venice been raised to the rank 
c of a first-rate commercial and naval power ? What islands and 

seaports had she acquired 1 With what state, and for how 
many years, was she engaged in war ? Where was peace con¬ 
cluded, and on what terms ? To what circumstances do you 
chiefly attribute the prosperity of Venice ? When were her 
d most palmy days ? By what power was she afterwards deprived 
of most of her Greek dominions ? What circumstance com¬ 
pleted her ruin ? In whom was the sovereign authox*ity lodged? 
By whom were they chosen ? What change was introduced at 
a later period ? 

[272] By whom were the struggles of the Milanese parties termi- 
a nated ? Who were the heads of these parties ? What measures 

were adopted by Henry VII.? What noble family became the 
possessor of almost the whole of Upper Italy ? By what means? 
On whom was the supreme authority conferred after the ex¬ 
tinction of the Visconti ? What change did he effect in the 
tenure of the dukedom ? 

[273] What advantages did Genoa obtain by the restoi’ation of the 
b Greek empire ? How long was she engaged in war with Pisa, 

and with what results ? To what causes do you attribute her 
weakness ? 

[274] What was the result of the struggle between the people of 
C Florence and the nobles ? Into how many classes were the 

commons divided ? What business was carried on, generally 
speaking, by the members of the higher guilds ? By what 
family was this aristocracy of wealth headed in the fifteenth 
d century? Who laid the foundation of their importance ? How 
was his son treated by the other bankers ? What distinction 
was afterwards conferred on him ? How did he merit this 
a distinction ? What cities did he embellish ? By whom was 
he succeeded ? To which of the Medici is Florence most 
indebted ? 

[275] What happened in the March of Ancona, and other parts of 
the States of the Church, during the I'esidence of the popes at 

b Avignon ? What was the condition of Rome at this time ? 
What title was assumed by a plebeian in one of these revolu¬ 
tions ? At what period were the States of the Church reunited ? 
What city was afterwards added to them ? 

[276] By what family was the Neapolitan throne occupied until 
c 1435 ? Who conquered the country in that year? To whom 

did he bequeath Naples? How long did his posterity continue 
to reign ? 

[277] To what kingdom was Sicily annexed ? When, and under 
what circumstances ? 


278 — 286 .] 


OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 


203 


§ 62. France . 

[278] From what country did Philip III. withdraw his army after 
D the death of his father? To whom did he marry his son ? What 

unsuccessful expedition did he undertake? 

[279] By whom was he succeeded ? Had the new monarch any 
other kingdom ? What was his character ? Of what English 

a province did he obtain possession? What occasioned the war? 
Why did Philip abandon Flanders? For what offence was he 
excommunicated, and how did he avenge himself ? Where did 
the next pope but one establish his residence ? How long did 
b the pope continue to reside there? By whom was the order of 
Knights Templars suppi’essed ? 

[280] Who succeeded Philip IY. ? What act was passed in the 
C reign of Philip V.? By whom was Charles IY. succeeded? 

On whom was Navarre settled? When was it reunited to 
France ? 

[281, d] Give the pedigree of Philip of Valois. 

[282] What occasioned the war between England and France ? 
a How long did it continue? With whom did Edward III. of 
England form an alliance ? By whom were they commanded ? 
b Where were the English victorious ? Who commanded the 
English army? What important town fell into his hands ? How 
long did it remain in possession of the English? What pro¬ 
vinces were added by Philip to the possessions of the French 
crown ? What right was conceded to him by the estates of the 
realm ? 

[283, c] By whom was he succeeded ? What misfortune befell him ? 
Who commanded the English in this battle ? What happened 
in France during his captivity ? By whom were the insurgents 
commanded ? What was his fate ? On what terms was peace 
d concluded between England and France ? What concession 
was made by Edward III. ? On what terms was liberty offered 
to the king of France ? Where did he die ? On whom did he 
bestow the dukedom of Burgundy ? 

[284] What distinguished services were rendered to Charles V. by 
a his general Bertrand du Guesclin ? 

[285] Under whose guardianship was Charles VI. placed ? What 
B was his character ? By whom was the right of his guardians 

contested ? What was the effect of these conflicting claims ? 
What was the fate of Orleans? What important victoi’y was 
c gained at this time by the English ? By whom was the Duke of 
Burgundy assassinated ? To whom did his son apply for assist¬ 
ance ? Whom did Henry V. of England marry ? What im¬ 
portant advantage did he gain by this marriage ? What issue 
did he leave ? 

[286] By whom was Charles VI. succeeded ? What foreign mon- 
D arch was now proclaimed king of France? Who compelled the 

English to raise the siege of Orleans? Where was Charles VII, 
a crowned ? What became of Joan of Arc ? On what terms was 
a reconciliation effected between Charles VII. and the Duke of 


204 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK [287 - 295. 

Burgundy ? What losses of territory were sustained by the 
English? To what circumstance do you ascribe the termina¬ 
tion of the war ? How was a standing army first organized in 
B France ? What occasioned the estrangement between Charles 
and his son? At whose court did the Dauphin seek an asylum ? 

[287] By what measures did Louis XI. attempt to establish the 
c absolute power of the crown ? What was the result of this 
d policy? What occasioned the dissolution of the league? Of 

what rash act was Louis guilty? On what terms did he regain 
a his liberty? How did he avenge himself ? Who were victorious 
at the battles of Granson and Murten ? Where did Charles ot 
b Burgundy lose his life? What became of the dukedom of Bur¬ 
gundy ? What territories were afterwards acquired by Austria? 
By what means ? What provinces were annexed to France ? 

[288] What conquest was achieved by Charles VIII.? By whom 
c was he compelled to abandon it ? What line expired with him ? 

§ 63. England and Scotland. 

[289] What province was annexed to the English crown by Ed- 
d ward I. ? What title was assumed by his son ? By whom, and 

in whose favour, was the disputed succession to the throne of 
Scotland decided ? How was the new king’s breach of faith 
a punished ? Who was crowned by the insurgent Scots ? Who 
succeeded Edward? What was his character? What advan¬ 
tage was taken of his weakness by the English nobles and by 
the Scots ? Who conspired against Edward ? What continental 
troops were brought against him ? What was his fate ? 

[290] How were the conspirators punished by Edward III.? Who 
b succeeded Robert Bruce on the throne of Scotland ? In whose 

favour was he compelled to abdicate ? By what concession had 
Balliol secured the favour of Edward ? How long did the dis- 
c putes respecting the right to the Scottish thi’one continue ? How 
often, and for what purpose, did Edward convoke his parlia¬ 
ment ? What division of the great council of the nation took 
place in this reign ? 

[291] Whose son was Richard II.? How did he commence his 
reign? Did he continue to reign wisely? By whom was he 

d deprived of almost all his authority ? Who placed the reins of 
government again in his hands ? By whom were they a second 
a time wrested from him ? What became of Richard ? 

[292] How was the reign of Heni’y IV. disturbed ? Were these 
b attempts successful ? By whom was he succeeded ? 

[293] What brilliant victoi’y did Henry V. obtain ? What province 
did he conquer? Whom did he marry? What important ad¬ 
vantage did he gain by this marriage ? What circumstance 
prevented his availing himself of it ? 

[294] By whom was he succeeded ? Give the genealogical table of 
the houses of York and Lancaster. 

[295] What title did the new king assume ? What became of his 
a possessions in that country? Was there no exception? What 

effect had these losses on the minds of his subjects ? What was 


296 - 302 .] OF MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 205 

the immediate result of their discontent ? By whom was this 
opposition headed ? On what grounds did he claim the crown ? 
What wars were occasioned by this dispute ? Who was nomi- 
b nated protector, and during what period ? Where did the two 
armies meet, and with what results ? To what terms did Henry 
eventually consent ? By whom was the war renewed ? What 
was the fate of Richard ? 

[296] By whom was the title of king then assumed ? With whom 
c did Queen Margaret then form an alliance ? What was the 

result of this measure ? By whom was Edward supported in his 
attempt to recover the English crown ? What was the fate 
of Henry VI.? What became of the house of Lancaster? 
What member of that house escaped, and where did he seek an 
asylum ? 

[297] By whom was Edward IV. succeeded ? What was his fate ? 

[298] Who next ascended the throne ? In what battle was he 
a slain ? What claims were reconciled by the accession of 

Henry VII.? 


§ 64. The Pyrencean Peninsula. 

[299] What possession still remained in the hands of the Moors 
in 1237 ? On what kingdom was it generally dependent ? What 
was its condition ? 

[300, b] Name the two Christian kingdoms in Spain. How was 
Arragon governed? In what year, and by whose marriage, 
w r ere the two kingdoms united ? What kingdom was added in 
1492? From what event do you date the independence of 
c Navarre ? By whom was a new dynasty founded in Portugal ? 
By whom were Madeira and the Azores discovered? Did lie 
make any other discoveries ? By whom, and in what year, was 
the Cape of Good Hope discovered ? What was its first name ? 


§ 65. The Byzantine Empire under the Palceologi. 

[301] By w’hom was the Byzantine empire reunited ? With what 
d exception ? What was the character of the sovereigns of this 
a dynasty ? What attempt was made to obtain assistance, and with 
what success ? By what circumstances were the Ottomans with¬ 
held for a time ? To whom, and in what year, did Constantino- 
b pie surrender ? What other states fell into the hands of the 
conqueror ? Of what nation did the kingdom of Cyprus become 
a dependency ? 


§ 66. The Osmans. 

[302, c] Who was Osman ? On the ruins of what kingdom did he 
found an empire? What were its original boundaries? How 
were they afterwards extended ? What city became the impe- 
d rial residence ? By whom were the Osmans defeated ? What 
conquests were achieved by Mohammed II.? 


206 


QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK 


[ 303 — 308 . 


§ 67. The Mongols. 

[303] Under whom did the Mongols again become a formidable 
a power ? Of whom was he a descendant ? What kingdoms did 

he found ? Against what countries did he carry on successful 
wars ? What was the extent of the empire at his death ? 

§ 68. Scandinavia. 

[304] By whom were the several Danish principalities reunited ? 
b Whom did the daughter of this sovereign marry ? What king¬ 
doms were placed at her disposal ? By what circumstances ? 

c To whom did the estates of Sweden offer the Swedish crown ? 
By what treaty were the three Scandinavian kingdoms united ? 
What privileges were retained by each ? By whom was Mar- 
d garet succeeded ? By whom was the throne of Denmark and 
Norway then filled ? What provinces were added to the pos¬ 
sessions of the new royal house ? 

§ 69. Russia. 

[305] What grand principalities were united to Russia ? Of what 
a provinces was it deprived ? By whom, and during what period ? 

Under which sovereign did the Russians emancipate themselves ? 
b From the tyranny of what horde ? Into how many kingdoms 
was the Khanate of Kaptschak divided ? Who was the real 
founder of the Russian empire ? How far did he extend his 
dominions ? From what nation did he exact tribute ? What 
title did he assume ? 


§ 70. Poland. 

[306] Under what dynasty were Great and Little Poland united ? 
c Of what territories was Casimir the Great deprived, and by 

whom ? What new possessions did he acquire ? What title was 
given him, and for what reason ? By whom was he succeeded ? 
By what means did he secure the succession for his daughter ? 
d What province was reunited to Poland ? By whose marriage ? 
What name was assumed by the new sovereign ? 

[307] What concessions were extorted from Wladislaw II. ? After 
a what victory did he obtain possession of Samogitia ? Where 

was peace concluded ? What territories were added by a second 
peace ? In whose reign ? What was then the extent of Poland ? 

§ 71. Prussia under the Teutonic Order. 

[308, b] Where was the Teutonic order settled ? Since what yeai 
What countries had it acquired by contest ? Under what grar 
master was the order most flourishing ? By what defeat wa 
its power shattered ? What war was terminated by this battle '( 
By whom, and with what result, was Marienburg defended 
c By whom was the tyranny of the order resisted ? Where was 
a second peace concluded ? What concessions were made by 
D the order ? Whither were its head-quarters transferred ? By 
whom were Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland governed until 
1513? 


OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 


207 


309—313.] 


§ 72. Hungary. 

[309] What was the result of the struggles occasioned by the ex- 
a tinction of the Arpad dynasty? Under what kings was the 

political condition of Hungary greatly improved ? What Hun¬ 
garian sovereign became the most powerful monarch of Europe ? 
b By what conquests ? By whom was he succeeded ? Of what 
family was the new king a member ? Name the three next 
c kings. By whom was he succeeded ? How did he offend the 
electors ? To whom did they offer the crown ? To what circum¬ 
stances do you ascribe the great renown of Matthias Corvinus ? 

§ 73. Religion, Arts, Sciences, <|-c., during the Fourth Period. 

[310] What circumstances were preparing the way for the recep- 
d tion of Christianity in Africa ? How was the influence of the 

papacy endangered during this period ? What was the great 
object of the councils of Basle and Constance ? Was this object 
attained ? What terrible pestilence devastated Europe in the 
fourteenth century ? What was the result of renewed attempts 
to reunite the Greek and Latin Churches ? Who refused to 
recognize the proceedings of this synod ? 

[311, c] How was the spirit of political combination manifested in 
Germany ? By what means was the power of the French kings 
n augmented ? What was the result of an opposite policy in Ger¬ 
many? What system was maintained in Italy? By means of 
a what state ? What was the constitution of the East ? What 
was the most remarkable peculiarity in the administration of 
justice at this period ? 

[312] Mention the three causes which united to produce new life 
b in the sciences. To what circumstances do you ascribe the 
C revival of the study of classical literature ? By whom was a 
better taste in literature introduced and propagated ? By whom 
was the art of printing invented ? By whom was he assisted ? 
d What was the first book printed ? What distinction existed in 
a the scholastic Aristotelic philosophy? By what circumstances 
were the studies of geography, mathematics, and medicine seve¬ 
rally promoted ? 

[313, b] In what country did poetry most flourish ? Name a few 
of the most distinguished Italian writers. What dialect became 
c the language of Italian literature ? Who was the earliest Ger¬ 
man prose writer ? Who was the father of English poetry ? 
What new school of architecture arose during this period ? 
D Where were the best architects? Who was the inventor of 
perspective ? Who were the most distinguished masters in the 
earlier Cologne and Flemish schools ? In what country, and when, 
a was copper-plate printing invented ? In whose hands was the 
maritime trade of the South ? Between what nations was the 
command of the Mediterranean at first divided ? What advan- 
b tages were obtained by Venice during the long war ? To what 
confederation did the coasts of western and northern Europe 
belong ? Of how many cities did this union consist ? Name its 
three branches. What division took place at a later period ? 


208 QUESTIONS TO HANDBOOK, &C. 

c Where were its principal depots 1 What city was at last 
l'ecognized as the chief of the Union ? In whose hands was the 
i) overland trade ? What fairs were in general repute towards 
the end of this period ? Where was the principal emporium of 
the French overland trade \ 


i 


THE END. 


6 7 8 4 


ERRATA. 

Page 11, 26 u, for Alaric read Attila 
83, 173 a, for first read second 
124, 254 B,/or Ireland read Iceland. 


Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John’s Square, London. 








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